


Girl Meets Season 5

by yuniesan



Series: After Season 3 Fics [2]
Category: Girl Meets World
Genre: Angst, Breaking Up & Making Up, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, I'll keep writing them because I love them, Insecurity, Texas Returns, World of Terror, accidents and recovery, joshaya, rucas, smarkle - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-30
Updated: 2018-11-30
Packaged: 2019-09-02 08:19:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 28
Words: 62,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16783213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yuniesan/pseuds/yuniesan
Summary: What can you expect when you’re finishing high school? For Riley her entire world will turn upside down and picking up the pieces will bring her and her friends closer together.





	1. Girl Meets Artemis

**Author's Note:**

> Several Notes to this: This story was originally published on my FF.Net, Tumblr, and WattPad accounts on November 2017. Because of how the school system is in NYC I skipped Junior Year so that they would graduate when they're supposed to, and not when they're nearly 20. Also I was in the middle of my Master's Thesis while writing this so the story itself has very short chapters.

It had been an eventful first day of school for Riley, well not as crazy as getting Saturday detention like the year before, but still eventful. Except it wasn’t school that was on her mind as she walked home after going to the library to return a book she had borrowed over the summer. What was on her mind was the soft barking sounds of the small puppy in her hands, as it wiggled under her sweater. She hadn’t needed the sweater during the day since it had been a cool 80 degrees outside, because summer never really ends in New York until late October some years. Yet her father had insisted after seeing her shirt that day, short sleeves weren’t a crime to her and it had been a hot day, but the closer she and Lucas got the more paranoid her father became. She wouldn’t be surprised if he made her wear turtlenecks by the end of the week, even though the weather wasn’t going to let up at all.

Cheerleading practice had been short that afternoon, but Lucas had to stay behind for practice leaving her to walk home alone, her sweater tied to her backpack because of her father and the weather making her sweat like crazy. Of course that sweater had come in handy when she had heard the first yipping sound from the puppy. She had only planned on feeding it a bit of her beef jerky, and some water but that’s not how it worked out.

So now her sweater held a small little ball of fur, completely covered in mud, who had been tormented by a couple of middle school students as she was walking home. They had been throwing water balloons at the poor thing before one of the boys had dumped a fist full of mud on the dog. Riley had seen it play out before rushing across the street to save the dog, only to get hit by a water balloon as she rushed off with the dog in her hands. The water on her back had been refreshing, but she didn’t enjoy it at all, she was angry that they had seen fit to torment a small animal.

She wondered how Lucas would have reacted if he had seen what had happened, she knew he loved dogs but he also cared about her and having those boys throw something at her, well she knew that he would have attacked those kids. Texas Lucas was not someone to mess with especially when it came to the girl he loved and small defenseless animals.

As she reached her house she was suddenly reminded of one small problem, and that was the fact that her building didn’t allow animals. She didn’t understand why, especially since most of the other buildings in the area allowed people to have pets but now she held the small bundle and wondered if she would be able to get it pass her parents before they realized what she had with her. Instead of climbing through the front door she went to the ladder and climbed up through the bay window, the puppy nestled in her backpack for the journey, with enough open so that the poor thing could get some air.

Her room lights had been off and she was glad that Maya hadn’t been there waiting for her because Riley wasn’t sure what she would do if Maya had scared her. Once inside she settled the puppy on the corner of her room near her closet and watched the baby as it slept. Riley hadn’t checked to see if it was a boy or girl but it didn’t matter she was in love with the little thing and she wasn’t sure if she would ever want to let it go.

Riley had gone down to the kitchen to get some water and food that she could give the dog and noticed that no one was around, and the lights were off. A note on the door of the fridge told her that her father had to stay behind at school for a meeting and that Auggie had gone with her mother to the café with Ava.

“I could have gone through the front door,” she said to herself.

Instead of dwelling on what could have been, she grabbed everything and went off to her room settling a bowl of water and bite size pieces of turkey next to the makeshift bed. The pup woke up at the smell of food and started chomping down on the food making Riley smile as she watched it take small bites. Once the puppy was done she grabbed the baby, because of course it was her baby now, and took it to the bathroom for a quick bath, using her strawberry shampoo. That’s when she saw that the puppy was completely white, she wasn’t sure on the breed, and she would have to ask Lucas about that but Riley though it was the purest baby she could have ever found, when she was almost done washing the dog she saw that it was a girl which only made her smile even more.

“You’re so cute aren’t you,” Riley cooed at the puppy. “I’m going to call you Artemis, because she was a goddess and so are you, my cute little goddess.”

Riley dried the dog and put some newspaper down in the corner so that if the pup had to go to the bathroom she could do it on the newspaper. Instead Artemis fell asleep on Riley’s sweater and all Riley could do was sit there and watch. After a while she started on her homework until she heard her family coming home. She quickly put her books away and went to meet them so that she wouldn’t be found out.

“Hey Riley guess what?” her brother said rushing towards her. “Ava and I are trying out for the school play this year.”

“We’re going to be married on stage,” Ava said smiling as she twirled her hair around her finger.

“No they’re not,” her mother said as she walked in through the door, Riley rushed over to grab the bags from her mother’s hands.

“What play is it Auggie?” Riley asked curious as to why they were going to let a couple of kids play husband and wife on stage.

“Alice in Wonderland,” Auggie said smiling. “I’m trying out for the Mad Hatter.”

“Ava, who are you trying out for?” Riley said as she walked across the living room.

“I’m going to be Alice and I’m going to marry the Hatter,” Ava said making Riley snort.

“Ava sweetie I told you that’s not how the play goes,” her mother said.

“Fine,” Ava said before walking to the fridge and taking out a fruit and cheese platter and eating the cheese.

Riley could swear that the little girl lived at her house more than she lived in her own, but it didn’t matter as long as her brother was happy. Her mother started on dinner as Riley finished putting away the groceries.

“Riley should we expect Maya or Lucas for dinner today?” her mother asked and at that moment Riley realized that she had never asked. Normally she messaged them the minute she got home but she had forgotten to even go to the café for their traditional study session.

Rushing off Riley went looking for her phone only to open the door to her room to see Maya climbing in through the bay window.

“Riles, why haven’t you answered any of our messages?” Maya said as Farkle followed her into the room Smackle not far behind, followed by Zay and Cassie, and Lucas came in last.

“We’ve been worried sick,” Farkle said as Lucas walked over to where Riley stood.

“Oops,” Riley said shrugging her shoulders. “I sort of forgot.”

“Right, you never forget and we left together,” Cassie said as she sat on Riley’s bed. “By the way, why did we just climb in through the window?”

“I’ve been asking that for years,” Zay said sitting next to Cassie.

Riley couldn’t help but smile every time she saw the pair together, they had grown closer over the summer. Zay helped Cassie babysit her brothers, and they had dinner at each other’s houses twice a week. They had become an adorable couple and she was happy that Zay was happy.

“That doesn’t matter, it’s tradition,” Maya said.

Lucas had stood next to Riley but didn’t do anything because his eyes were trained on the small white ball of fluff on the floor.

“Riley when did you get a dog?” he said which caused everyone to turn to see what he was looking at.

“I kind of… sort of… found him on the way to the café and instead of going to meet you I brought her home with me,” Riley said smiling at everyone.

“Your building doesn’t allow pets,” Farkle said as Riley scooped up Artemis.

“I know but some kids were being mean to her and I couldn’t leave her behind, plus Artemis is mine and I love her.”

“She named it and now it’s going to be bound to her,” Smackle said looking between the dog and Riley.

“This is going to be a problem,” Maya said looking around the room. “Riley, sunshine you can’t keep it.”

“But I want her so much, she’s my baby,” Riley said as Artemis let out a yip. “See she knows it too.”

Riley sat at the bay window next to Maya and played with Artemis’s hair, the group was surprised that Lucas hadn’t said anything but when Riley looked at her boyfriend he was looking at the dog with the sweetest look on his face, so she held out Artemis so he could pet her.

“See Lucas likes her,” she said looking at her friends.

“Lucas falls in love with every animal he sees, the man cannot be trusted,” Zay said so Riley held Artemis out to him. It took him less than ten seconds before his eyes began to glow. “Apparently I can’t be trusted either.”

“An animal cannot have that much power over a person, it’s scientifically impossible,” Smackle said so of course Riley turned the full force of the puppy on her. “Apparently science can be proven wrong… honeybuckets I want one.”

Riley watched as Farkle pulled his girlfriend away from the puppy smiling as she tried to gain control of her senses.

“Riley, it’s time for dinner,” she heard her father say two seconds before the door swung open. “What is that… that thing in your hands?”

“Well…” she said before Auggie and Ava burst into the room and zeroed in on the ball of fur in her hands.

“Oh my god,” her brother squealed before launching himself towards Artemis. “Can we keep it?”

“No, no no no no,” her father said before screaming, “Topanga.”

It took her mother five seconds before she walked in through Riley’s bedroom door and see what was happening. Her mother’s eyes zeroed in on the puppy before she walked over and picked up Artemis out of Riley’s hands. That’s all it took before her mother started cooing at the puppy and petting her hair.

“Topanga,” her father said. “The lease says.”

“No it doesn’t, I didn’t tell you earlier but the owners sold the building, I got the letter this morning, and the new owner doesn’t care about pets,” her mother said as her lawyer mode came out. “I double checked the lease agreement to make sure that they weren’t going to raise the rent above a fair value, but since it was just finalized two weeks ago I was thinking of surprising you all with a puppy… Riley just beat me to it apparently.”

“Where was I when all of this was happening?” her father said looking around the room. “And when did we gain so many kids?”

“The kids have been here for years… well except Cassie but she’s ours now,” her mother said as she made kissy noises at Artemis. “And I tried to tell you about the lease, but Shawn showed up and you rushed over and hugged him even though he lives nearby with Maya and Katy, but somehow it’s useless to try and tell you anything when he’s around.”

“So wait does that mean we can keep Artemis?” Riley said looking at her mother smiling.

“Yes Riley we can, and nice name, it reminds me of when I was your age,” her mother said smiling. “But you can’t take her with you to college, and you have to walk her every day.”

“Can I help too,” Auggie said jumping up and down.

“Yes Auggie you can, this is going to be our family pet, so it’s up to you and your sister to take good care of her,” her mother said.

Riley watched her father looking around the room murmuring something about kids, and his wife and how he has no control over anything. Until he zeroed in on Lucas. “You.”

“Daddy Lucas didn’t even do anything,” Riley said rolling her eyes.

“No everything is because of him, he wants to be a veterinarian so of course there’s a dog in our house, he smiles and you melt, he’s the cause of all of my problems.”

“Oh boy here we go,” Maya said smiling before jumping onto the Bay Window. “Matthews versus Friar, round 105.”

“No daddy,” Riley said before her father launched himself towards Lucas who was already out the window. Her father grabbed Lucas’s shoe and yanked it off, but Riley grabbed the shoe and glared at her father before handing the shoe back to Lucas.

“Thanks Riley,” he said before he quickly kissed her on the lips and ran off.

“Friar,” her father yelled but since Lucas was on the baseball team, and the basketball team, he was already down the ladder before her father could even attempt to climb out the window.

The rest of her friends laughed as they watched but Riley was just tired and she wanted her baby Artemis.

 _See you tomorrow_ , Lucas send in a message with a small purple heart at the end.

That night Artemis slept in Riley’s room, and alternated between her and Auggie’s room throughout the week. Riley was happy because they had a puppy, but also because their family had gotten a little bit bigger.


	2. Girl Meets Jealousy

It had started with Farkle and slowly moved through the group, in the first few weeks of the semester each of the guys saw a glimpse of what it would be like if someone took their girl away from them. They weren’t jealous or at least they wouldn’t admit it to anyone, because it took someone else pointing it out for them to realize how much they really cared about their relationship, and how much they hated how other guys thought it was okay to flirt with unavailable women.

For Farkle it happened because him and Smackle had been placed in two different AP Science classes that semester. So after years of being each other’s lab partners they had been separated for the first time. He didn’t want to think it was bad, he loved Smackle and she needed to broaden her horizon so it wasn’t bad. That was until the day that Smackle had to stay behind for a project with her lab partner, she told Farkle to go ahead to Topanga’s and save her a seat and that she would be there in an hour.

“See you soon,” she had said with a smile right before she hugged him. Smackle had become increasingly comfortable with physical affection, and though they kissed very softly at times, she was still wary of true public displays.

“See you later my beloved,” he had said as she pulled away from him. He smiled as she walked away towards the science labs and felt as if this was the way a couple should act. It was still awkward at times because they were never sure of how to proceed with their relationship in some aspects, but in others they had grown comfortable.

Closeness, and proximity towards one another, celebrating a singular event such as anniversaries and holidays, meeting one another’s parental units. They had learned from their friends and emulated certain aspects of their relationships and continued the parts in which they were the most comfortable with.

So of course when Farkle had seen Smackle’s lab partner, a tall teenager with dark hair and a leather jacket, he thought that it couldn’t have been the person his beloved was partnered up with. He couldn’t understand what had overcome him as he followed the teenager until he had entered the science lab and had given Smackle a smile. Farkle felt his face heat up and something slowly stabbing him in the heart.

“What is this feeling?” he wondered out loud as he watched the two work on their project. The boy getting closer and closer to Smackle as time went on, and Farkle feeling more and more restless until the other boy’s hand was draped over Smackle’s chair and Farkle had almost burst into the room to claim his territory.

Instead he walked away for a moment, rubbing his chest trying to figure out what was happening, was this jealously of someone getting so close to his girlfriend when he had been trying so hard to do everything right especially since Smackle had to deal with so much because of her Asperger’s? He couldn’t understand why he was feeling jealous especially since they had affirmed their status during freshman year, and why was this guy getting so close to her like he knew her.

It was a hormonal reaction, all teenage boys get it, as if he wanted to walk in there and mark his territory like an animal.

“I’m not an animal,” he said out loud before walking away from the room.

It had taken him five minutes before he had rushed back towards the room and slammed the door against the wall. He was breathing heavily as he watched the two other people in the room stare at him as he breathed panted like a wild animal.

“Thank you Jason, my experiment is now complete,” Smackle said before walking towards the window and shutting off a camera that Farkle had not seen before.

“Wha….” he said watching his girlfriend walk back towards her lab desk and sit down.

“Jason and I were conducting an experiment about whether a boy who has no actual problems in his relationship with his girl would react positively or negatively when another male is in the presence of his girlfriend. As you can see my love, I have proven my theory, that the males of the species will feel threatened no matter what.”

Farkle couldn’t believe what he was hearing, his mouth had dropped at the fact that his girlfriend had conducted an experiment on him just to see if her would get jealous of someone else being so close to her.

“But you have problem with physical attention from people you don’t know very well,” he said clearly trying to tone down the fact that he had been jealous of someone because of a science experiment.

“Jason here,” she said pointing out the tall dark and handsome leather clad teenager. “Has a boyfriend, we’ve been partners all semester and were trying to pick a topic in which would benefit our research.”

“I feel so stupid,” Farkle said as his knees gave out and he found himself on the floor, defeated by his girlfriend and her very gay and not straight lab partner.

“Don’t worry beloved,” she said smiling. “I will be with you always.”

“I know, and I’m sorry.”

That was the day he realized that he shouldn’t underestimate his girlfriend and her powers of deduction. He knew this wasn’t the first time it had happened, because Lucas had been at the center of it since they had started dating, but he had always known just how much he loved Smackle. In the end he should have known that something had been amiss, but in the end he realized that he was just like any other teenage boy out there.

\-------

The second time it happened, well Zay was not ready for it, he had just started dating Cassie at the beginning of the summer. So they were still in that honeymoon phase of their relationship so it hit him really hard when he saw his girlfriend in the arms of another man who was lifting her up and spinning them around. Cassie wasn’t very straightforward unless you got to know her, at first she was a shy person but he liked that about her. She also had a heart of gold and would do anything for her family, even if it meant missing school to help her sick mother.

So of course it took Zay a while to get to know the girl who would steal his heart, it had happened over dinners between their families, weekly movie nights, babysitting, and walks through the park. He couldn’t understand how Lucas had felt towards Riley until he had felt it himself and he was so happy that his heart could burst.

That all changed on September afternoon as he walked towards Cassie’s house with flowers in his hand to ask her out on a dinner date to a small ramen restaurant that they had both been talking about… and found her in the arms of someone else. He couldn’t tell if he was heartbroken or not, it felt like something was sitting on his chest. The sudden urge to go over there and pry them apart so that he could demand to know what was happening.

Now he understood what Lucas had felt when Charlie Gardner had been around Riley during the whole fiasco in middle school.

“I’m not jealous,” he said to himself. He couldn’t be, they had only been together for three months, they were still getting to know one another.

So he stood there and watched as Cassie talked to the other person with an animated look on her face, and wondered if she ever looked at him like that. The look of pure happiness on her face made his heart ache as if he were losing the best thing in his life. He was about to turn around when she had spotted him and waved at him.

“Zay,” she squealed as she rushed towards him throwing her arms around him. “I’m so glad you’re here.”

He was dumbfounded, unsure of what was happening, a moment ago he didn’t know if he wanted to demand an explanation or runaway seething at how she had hugs some guy in plain view of him.

_Why was he acting like Lucas?_ he wondered to himself.

“You have to meet my uncle, he’s back from the army,” she said pulling him towards the other man.

“Uncle? He doesn’t look a day over twenty,” Zay said as they walked over to the man he had been jealous of just a moment ago for having Cassie’s arms around him.

“He’s twenty-nine,” she said smiling. “Latin genes are strong in him, I swear he’s a vampire because he doesn’t age at all.”

Zay was speechless, and it took a lot to make him speechless, he wondered if this was some elaborate prank or something but as he stood in front of the other man he saw the family resemblance and couldn’t understand why he had been so jealous. It could have been because his girlfriend was a strong, smart, and beautiful young woman and he was so afraid of something going wrong like when he had been in Texas that he never let go of himself completely around her. He was afraid of losing her so much it hurt, but he knew that it was up to Cassie to determine whether she wanted to be in the relationship.

“Tio Miguel, this is Zay,” she said smiling at her uncle. “He’s my boyfriend.”

The moment the words had left her mouth the older man began sizing him up, and Zay could feel his body tense up for a moment before Cassie squeezed his hand to tell him it was alright.

“You better be good to my dear little sobrina,” Miguel said staring Zay down, making him gulp down air and start coughing as the air went down with a little bit of saliva.

“Aye tio, seriously don’t scare him like that,” Cassie said rubbing his back.

That night they had gone to the restaurant with her uncle, as he told them stories of his tours throughout Asia, and as he grilled Zay on his intentions with Cassie. But for some reason as Cassie held his hand under the table he knew that she had chosen to be with him and he didn’t need to be different around her, he could just be himself and be happy at the same time.

\--------

The third time it happened, well it happened to Josh and he couldn’t understand why he had been so jealous about anything. He understood relationships better than anyone else, but seeing someone flirt with Maya as she worked at the counter of Topanga’s while a boy her age flirted with her made him angry. He had learned a long time ago to let Maya make her own decisions about their relationship, the definitions of had been hers to choose. Yet he was allowed to be jealous right, there was no way around it. Everyone got jealous every once and a while.

The age difference hadn’t mattered the moment they had decided to be together, even while they held back on certain aspects of their relationship. They only held hands, making out was not something they indulged on, but they kissed which made his stomach flutter. They never went beyond the boundaries set by her parents and he wanted to respectful of them no matter what.

Yet seeing her with someone her own age made his heart ache, he wasn’t one hundred percent sure of their relationship, there were too many obstacles, to many variables. They couldn’t be together as much as all of her other friends could be with their girlfriends. He was certain his own insecurities were playing as much havoc on his mind at that moment than anything else. Even if he was a little jealous of how close the boy was trying to get.

Then he saw Maya’s face scrunch up, and she rolled her eyes, it looked like she hadn’t realized that the guy had been flirting with her. She handed him his drink and he gave her a napkin, Josh assumed it had the guy’s number on it, but he watched as Maya shook her head and waved him away throwing the napkin into the trash.

Josh walked in as the guy said “Whatever,” before walking away.

Then her eyes met his and she smiled at him, and in that moment when he smiled back, he saw her eyes light up as if a thousand stars had exploded in them.

“Hi,” she said as she walked over to him.

“Hey, I came over to see what time you got off so we could have dinner with Shawn and your mom,” he said taking her hand for a moment before pulling her in for a quick kiss. In a way showing the other guy who had sat down with his friends, that yes she was taken. It felt like a stupid move but he did it anyway.

“You know I’m not stupid, I know you saw that guy flirting with me, but if you want to have a pissing contest to show him that you’re my boyfriend… by all means do so, because this is the first time you’ve actually initiated a kiss since we started dating.”

Josh felt his face flush at being caught, forgetting how perceptive Maya was. He wanted to deny it but felt a bit of satisfaction at the fact that she knew him so well.

“Sorry, it’s weird, but I have my own insecurities when it comes to this relationship, and I guess I’ll always be afraid of losing you.”

“If you did lose me it wouldn’t be because of some guy who doesn’t understand the meaning of the words I’m taken,” she said pulling him towards the counter. “You’ll only lose me if you don’t learn to take this relationship seriously. Josh I’m graduating high school, and soon I’ll be going to college, because Riley will force me to fill out a million applications and I can’t stop her.”

“I guess that maybe instead of having so many dinner dates with your parents that maybe we should have some together alone.”

“I wish we could, but Shawn is in fact a tad bit overprotective so maybe instead we could do small things, you know to ease him into the fact that we’re dating before we throw the big things at him.”

“You’re not rushing into this? You’re becoming more adult every day, and I like it.,” he honestly liked watching her come into her own, it showed in her art as well and it was good for her.

“Yeah well with friends like Riley, it was bound to happen, although she makes sure that I don’t lose too much of myself, and yesterday she made me do something risky with her, which says a lot because I don’t know how she really felt about going to see an R rated movie.”

Josh laughed, he knew what movie it was because Maya had been talking about seeing the movie IT since she had seen the trailer. They had watched it once already, but making Riley see the movie, and especially if they hadn’t told their parents about going meant that Maya was turning into a mature young woman without losing the things that made her who she was.

“Josh we all have our own insecurities, but if I’ve learned anything communication is the key to any relationship, and I got that from your brother.”

“We’ll talk more,” he said realizing that maybe he needed to grow up with her. “Especially about feelings, and all the things you usually shy away from.”

“We’ll do this together.”

He took her other hand in his own and squeezed. “Together.”

“Now next time you feel like getting all jealous and start to make a face where you’re half angry and half trying to kill someone with your mind, please let me be there because I want a picture… Oh and wear a leather jacket while you’re at it.”

He laughed at her words and pulled her into a hug. “You make me a better person every day.”

“Right back at ya.”

\---------

The last time it had happened, well of course it was Lucas who had gotten jealous because it always happened when someone got to close to Riley who he didn’t trust at all. One of his teammates from the basketball team had been flirting with every girl on the cheerleading squad. Whether they were single or not, he wanted the girl to give him his undivided attention, it how the guy worked. Except when he had started on Riley, Lucas hadn’t known that the guy liked to break couples apart as a sport. He had only seen glimpses of it, where the guy would casually touch Riley while Lucas was running drills, how he would lean in as close as possible when Riley was talking to one of her teammates.

Lucas’ had an anger problem, he knew this, but it wasn’t until he had overheard about it in the locker room, because he had forgotten on of his textbooks, that his jealously had turned into outrage.

“Dude you know she’s dating Friar,” one of the voices said making Lucas stiffen.

“Who cares, she wouldn’t smile at me if she wasn’t interested,” the culprit said.

Because Lucas was trying to keep his Texas side out of his high school life he had slammed the locker shut loud enough that the sound would be heard before walking out of the room and going to find Riley. She had been standing at her locker packing up her backpack for the weekend when he had found her and the smile on her face was enough to melt away all of the tension in his body.

“Hey Lucas,” she said as she put her hands on his face. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” he said pushing away the thoughts of someone trying to push him out of his relationship. “I need to grab something from my locket so stay here and I’ll be back in a minute.”

“Sure,” she said giving him a quick kiss on his lips.

As he walked away he put his fingers to his lips and touched them for a minute, they smelled like strawberries and sunshine, which is what he thought Riley always smelled like, but he knew she would change the scent in October to something pumpkin related, she liked different scents to match the seasons. It was the purest thing about her, always finding something to celebrate, even when she was having a hard time. Grabbing the last of his books he walked back smiling, while thinking about taking Riley pumpkin picking in October.

That’s when he saw his teammate standing far too close to Riley, and the look on Riley’s face made his earlier jealousy redundant because she was smiling, but her eyes were screaming for the guy to step back. She was nice to everyone, because she had hope in everyone, but this guy was taking advantage of that.

Lucas found himself walking over to them, anger radiating off of him as his Texas side started to come out, he could barely contain his anger, until he had heard the sound. It was like a crack, but it was loud, as Riley smacked the guy across his face. That’s when Texas Lucas went back into his hiding place, because Riley could defend herself. They had been working on self-defense over the summer, because there had been an increase in crime throughout the neighborhood and he wanted to make sure that she could defend herself.

He couldn’t help but smile, his girlfriend was a strong fierce woman, and she was perfect when it came to defending herself. She didn’t need him for that, but he could be the supportive boyfriend all the same.

“Hey Riley, ready to go?” he said smiling at her as his teammate glared at him.

“Yes, I need some ice for my hand,” she said as she rubbed the palm of her hand. The imprint was now on his teammates face, which meant that she hadn’t held back.

“Let’s get you to the café then,” he said pulling her close. “Oh and by the way, if I ever see you near Riley or any of the other cheerleaders with anything other than pure intentions, I’ll let her wail on you.”

Riley laughed as they walked off leaving behind his stunned teammate. Riley Matthews was the strongest person he knew, and the one person who kept him from becoming something he no longer was.


	3. Girl Meets Auggie and Ava

If there was something that Auggie Matthews was sure of it was that he had his family, the second thing he was sure of was that Ava Morgenstern was going to be his wife in the future. He was in the fifth grade now so he did what he knew he was capable of as the brother of a sixteen-year-old sister, he looked out for her. Over the years he watched as Riley and her friends talked and went through so many different kinds of problems. He didn’t understand most of them but he was certain that if anyone hurt his sister they would have to answer to him.

What else had he learn? Well math got harder as he went up in grades, he no longer got his snacks in class, and Ava was always nearby to keep him happy. There was a reason why he always had cheese in his lunch box, and that’s because in her own way his mom had warmed up to the idea of Ava being around. He was also growing taller and he let his hair grow longer, because he liked when Ava touched his hair even for just a short moment. It was comforting in a world full of grade school bullies, and no pudding cups before lunch time.

So, when he got the part of the Mad Hatter and Ava became Alice, the two of them filled their time with rehearsing and hanging out at his house. There were days when Ava didn’t want to go home, her mother had started dating someone and she felt weird being in the same room with the other man.

“He’s not my daddy,” she said when Auggie had asked why she didn’t want to go home. “Sometimes he tries to be nice, but then my mother acts differently and I realize that my home is not the same.”

“It’s okay Ava, I’ll protect you,” he had said to her holding her close.

“You’ll protect my heart forever and ever,” she said with tears in her eyes.

“Forever and ever, I’ll always be your Auggie Doggie,” at the mention of the word Doggie, little Artemis walked over to them and sat down at their feet. Auggie scooped up the small dog that Riley had found and placed her on Ava’s lap. They sat there petting the small animal while watching Cuddle Bunnies on the television.

Ava always stayed over for dinner on nights that her mother went out on dates with her new boyfriend and Auggie worried about how the relationship between the mother and daughter was being broken apart. Ava wanted what Riley and his mom had, a close relationship where the mother always had her child’s best interest at heart. But Ava didn’t get that, her home was broken, and she sometimes cried into Auggie’s arms while they hid away in his bedroom.

Auggie didn’t have a bay window like Riley, but he told Ava how to get to his room if she ever needed him. On nights when her mother didn’t come home, Ava would often hide in Auggie’s room. Auggie tried really hard to keep his parents from finding out but they knew because they would always set an extra plate of food at the breakfast table.

“Ava sweetheart,” his mother had said one morning. “I talked to your mother about what’s been happening, and she says that she’s sorry about how she’s been acting.”

“Your father is coming over to stay with you for a little while,” his father had said and that’s when Auggie knew something had happened.

Once Ava had gone to her apartment Auggie pulled his parents into the living room and stared them both down.

“I want to know what is happening,” he said his face as serious as he could be.

His father sighed for a moment before speaking. “You remember how I told you about Shawn and how he grew up, that his parents were always gone and he needed to rely on others.”

When Auggie nodded his mother turned to speak with him. “Well Ava’s mom, she ran off with the gentleman she’s been seeing, she doesn’t want to take Ava with her, and that’s why Ava’s been so hurt recently. We talked to her father and he’s agreed to move back into the apartment until Ava’s mother realizes what she’s done.”

“So she’s alone?” he said scared for the girl who has had his heart since he was five.

“No,” his father said smiling. “She has her father, and you, and us, she has Riley and Maya, and all of these people who care about her.”

Auggie hadn’t known that he started crying, but his mother had pulled him into a hug and held him until he stopped. “You have to be strong for her Auggie, no matter what she can’t lose herself.”

“I’ll take care of her, she’s going to be my wife after all.”

So, in the weeks since Ava’s father moved in Auggie went over for dinner twice a week. Her father was a kind man, and whatever had happened between him and Ava’s mother had not diminished the love he has for his daughter. Ava began to smile more often, and she only snuck into Auggie’s room on nights she had nightmares, or when she just wanted to talk. Eventually they started talking in Ava’s bedroom, because it had its own bay window, and Auggie knew that she was searching for what Riley and Maya had built in Riley’s room. A place were friends can talk.

The days where it was his responsibility to walk Artemis, he took Ava with him because Lucas had told him that animals helped people heal their own hearts. He liked Lucas the most out of Riley’s friends, even Maya, because Lucas always found ways to include Auggie and sometimes Ava into what he and Riley were doing together. They’d go to the Central Park Zoo together, or a museum, and lately the four of them began to volunteer at an animal shelter

It was because of Lucas, that Auggie realized what he wanted to do when he grew up, and that was to help people heal. So, where Lucas was going to be a veterinarian so that he could help animals, Auggie wanted to help people get stronger in the same way. Lucas suggested that he could be a physical therapist or a psychologist, depending on how he wanted to help, and if he were interested he could even become a doctor. But that was still years away so he worked on helping Ava heal her heart.

She had been sad for too long because too many things continued to happen. So, when her father talked about dating again, he went to Ava first and talked to her. He told her that if she wasn’t ready that he wouldn’t try, but Ava said as long as whoever it was made him happy and understood that the father and daughter duo were a packaged deal then she would be alright with it. Auggie was there the night her father introduced his girlfriend to Ava, he watched her because he knew she was scared of being abandoned again by someone who was supposed to take care of her.

It didn’t happen, because Ava’s father was dating of all people, Ms. Harper Burgess, Riley’s middle school English teacher. Ava thought she was cool, so Harper started coming over more often hanging out with Auggie and Ava and telling them stories and giving them books to read. They talked about comic books and how Ava’s father was getting a teaching license to teach in the city.

Auggie finally began to relax knowing that Ava was going to be taken care of, especially when he had found out that Harper had been dating Ava’s father for a while now and they had constantly talked about the day Ava would meet her.

Auggie was a good husband to his wife.

“So Auggie,” Riley said sitting next to him a week after Harper had moved into the Morgenstern house. “Ava’s dad is dating Harper?”

“Yup, and they’re happy,” he said smiling at his sister who was petting Artemis.

“You’re a very good person Auggie Matthews, and I’m glad Ava has someone who cares about her so much.”

“I’m glad you have someone who cares about you so much too Riley,” he said smiling at his sister. “Lucas is very lucky to have you in his life.”

“And I’m very lucky to have you both in mine,” she said pulling him in for a hug.

That afternoon, Riley had taken him and Ava to the movies, while Lucas held Ava’s hand on one side, and Riley held Auggie’s on the other. Auggie knew that they were old enough to see a movie that wasn’t PG rated but he also knew that sometimes you just don’t want to grow up especially when there was too many grown up things happening around you.


	4. Girl Meets Cassie and Zay

It was a rare day off from practice, baseball season was almost over and it felt nice to have one day where he wasn’t running around. Zay had opted out of being on the basketball team for the last season so he wasn’t going to play, but he wanted to spend more time with Cassie, and his grades. They were applying to colleges soon and he wanted to be able to keep up with his friends, even if they didn’t go to the same schools. So he watched as Cassie and Riley practiced, while Lucas sat next to him cheering Riley on.

“So Zay,” Lucas said never taking his eyes off of Riley. “How are things going with you and Cassie?”

“Well it’s new,” he said smiling. “I mean with Vanessa we were too young to understand anything, and when I watched you with Riley as you both struggled to understand what you were feeling for all of those years I realized I wanted something like that.”

“Do you think you’ve found that?”

“I don’t know but I’m willing to find out, plus she makes me happy and I hope I make her happy too,” he said as he waved at Cassie who was jumping up and down. She smiled at him and waved back.

“Well if you two ever want to go on a double date with me and Riley, I’m sure Riley would love it and she would probably plan the whole thing too.”

“One day, for now I’m just happy getting to know her.”

Lucas smiled at him before the two of them had gone back to watching the girls run around the gym while they practiced their dance routines. When practice was over for them, Lucas took Riley home so that they could have a movie night with Auggie and Ava. While Zay walked Cassie home, they were going to watch The Notebook that night.

The two of them had started a tradition when they began dating and that was that on date nights, which were Friday’s after practice. They would watch romantic dramas, so far they’ve done sixteen different movies from She’s Having a Baby to The Vow. Cassie knew that his favorite was The Notebook, so they read the book before rewatching the movie, Zay cried like he always did. This was something he never showed his friends but Lucas understood and let him have his moment. Some nights they watched with his parents, others with her parents, that night they were alone because his parents had taken her siblings out to a birthday party for a classmate.

Cassie set up the movie, while Zay pulled out snacks that they had picked up from the bodega on the corner. Every once and a while they would smile at one another before settling on the couch as the movie began. They never talked during the movie, they just held each other’s hand and watched in silence as the story unfolded in front of them. Zay was respectful of the trust her parents gave them and he didn’t want to overstep that boundary.

When the credits began to roll he pulled Cassie into a hug and kissed her forehead, the gesture was innocent but it was always comforting.

“We should do a month with nothing but romcoms because this is too much sometimes,” she said to him as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

“Next date night we’ll watch The Wedding Singer,” he said smiling.

“I have an idea, maybe we can convince Mrs. Matthews to let us host a movie night at the café so that we could all see it together.”

“That sounds perfect.”

Looking at the clock he noticed that it was just after seven, and they had two hours left before curfew for the both of them. He pulled her off the couch and towards the door.

“Zay where are you taking me,” she said, a hint of laughter in her voice.

“Let’s go to the café now and she if she’s there, plus we could get some coffee and a sandwich or something.”

“Okay,” she said as they walked out of the house hand in hand smiling.

Zay felt like he was walking on air whenever they held hands, it was so nice he had almost forgotten that they were headed towards Topanga’s until they were on the steps that led down to the café. He couldn’t stop himself from grinning like a fool and he didn’t really care so much about it either. So when they saw Riley and Lucas sitting on the couches by the door while an animated Auggie and Ava sat across from them he couldn’t help but laugh. They were three different couples in their own respects, but they were all friends.

“Hey guys,” Zay said as he sat where Farkle and Smackle usually sat during study nights. “What’s going on?”

“Oh hey Zay,” Riley smiled before pulling Cassie into a hug. “Hey Cas.”

“We went to the movies and stopped by for some snacks before heading home,” Lucas said to them while pulling Riley back down to her seat. “Riley ate too many gummy bears and she’s a little hyper right now.”

“Not my fault, since you actually brought me an entire bag, and then watched as I poured them into the popcorn.”

“I can’t get the image of melting gummy bears out of my head now,” he said smiling at his girlfriend. Zay wondered if that was the same look he gave Cassie when they were together.

“Riley is your mom around?” Cassie said interrupting his thoughts. “We have an idea that we want to run by her.”

“I’ll get her,” Ava said jumping out of her seat, Auggie following close behind as the two ten year olds walked towards the back.

“You might have to give them a few minutes, because Ava is probably going to annoy my mother before she comes out here,” Riley answered Cassie.

“What’s the idea?” Lucas asked after Auggie and Ava were out of sight.

“A movie night here at the café,” Zay said smiling as Cassie launched into the details of what they had thought up. He liked when her eyes lit up from excitement or how her hands always waved around all over the place when she was excitedly explaining something to him or anyone else.

“That sounds like a wonderful idea,” Mrs. Matthews said pulling Zay out of his girlfriend induced stupor. “We can set it up, once a month, and it will bring business into the place especially with it being a free event. So all people would buy is the food and the drinks.”

“Oh can we do an art show too,” Riley said smiling. “For Maya… and other artist.”

“A poetry slam,” Zay added.

“Music night,” Cassie added in her own and they all looked over at Lucas waiting for his input in all of their ideas.

“Listen I’m not good with on the spot ideas like this so don’t put pressure on me,” he answered the group.

They were all laughing after a moment had passed and Lucas hadn’t come up with any ideas. Mrs. Matthews told them to become the cafés event planning committee, Lucas could do all the heavy lifting while they set up. Zay hadn’t noticed that a lot of the things they had suggested were good for date nights and automatically knew that he could finally go on that double date, or with how things were going it would be a quadruple date since all of his friends were paired off.

When they had drunk their coffee, Zay once again took Cassie’s hand and started walking towards her house. Her uncle was still around and he didn’t want to offend her parents by keeping her out pass curfew. The night was still warm even for an autumn day, but it felt like summer was trying to keep its hold on the city. For some reason he couldn’t wait for the cold, because it would mean that they would hold hands without sweating, or they could go to one of the small pop up shopping areas and walk around with dorky smiles on their faces. He wanted those small couple moments that he saw his friends sharing, while adding his own.

“Penny for your thoughts,” Cassie said once they were in front of her house.

“I was just thinking about all the little things we could do when it starts getting colder, this city is so big and there’s always so much to do, I guess it makes me…”

“Happy? giddy? Like we’re the only two people in the world in a city of over eight million and rising?”

“All of the above, plus I like hanging out with you.”

“Well I like hanging out with you,” she said before leaning towards him and giving him a quick kiss on his lips.

A car door slammed nearby making him jump away from Cassie, her uncle looked at the two of them from the outside of his car.

“I guess it’s goodnight then,” he said his heart slamming against his chest.

“Goodnight,” her uncle said making sure that they didn’t kiss again.

“Now I know how Lucas feels,” he grumbled. “I feel bad for making fun of him for so long whenever Mr. Matthews chased him out the window.”

She laughed and his heart beat for a different reason. “Goodnight Isaiah,” her uncle said making Zay sigh.

“Night Cas, see you tomorrow.”

“See you tomorrow Zay,” she said giving him a quick kiss before rushing towards her uncle and pulling him inside of the apartment. He couldn’t help but smile all the way home and up to his bedroom. They always said see you tomorrow, they didn’t like saying bye, because it felt permanent so even when they knew they wouldn’t physically see one another, they always said that they would see each other the next day. It was their version of Riley and Lucas saying Hey Hi Hey, and he loved it.

That’s when he realized that he was truly falling in love and it made him feel like he was on cloud nine.

_Goodnight Cassie, love you_ he sent in a message. He wanted to work up the courage to tell her in person one day.

_Love you too and goodnight,_ she sent back. He blushed at the words but he knew that they were moving in a direction that they had been working on since they met. Their romantic relationship was only four months old, but their personal relationship had been growing since they met in February and he was grateful to Riley for introducing them.

“Love is a good thing,” he said laying down on his bed.


	5. Girl Meets Driving Test

“Peaches,” Riley said skipping towards her best friend. “I have news.”

“It’s too early for happy Riley,” Maya said before drinking some mixed coffee drink that Riley swore she would never understand, mainly because it was cold and pink and she couldn’t figure out how it was possible. But Maya, as tough as she acted, loved colorful drinks and Riley loved it because it was something extremely girly.

“Well I have my driving lesson today with my dad so it’s the best time to be happy Riley,” she said smiling at Maya who looked like a deer caught in the headlights.

“Wait… Matthews is giving you a driving lesson… today, oh god why do I have to work when this is happening?”

“Well because you wanted extra money, and because Josh was working today so you wanted to spend more time with him.”

“Wait a minute,” Maya said turning towards Riley. “This isn’t your first driving lesson, I know because Lucas sometimes drives you to that abandoned parking lot in Brooklyn so that he could teach you…” Maya smiled what Riley called her evil smile. “Your dad doesn’t know this, he thinks you’re learning to drive for the first time.”

“Well…. No and you’re not allowed to tell him because he’s still freaking out about, well everything that has to do with me and Lucas dating.”

“Right, but when he finds out, and I know he will, you have to record it because I’m not missing that patented Cory Matthews freak out, now let me into this freaking café so I can get to work.”

“You know I find it hilarious that you work here, but still go to Starbucks in the morning, what the coffee here not good enough for you?”

“That’s not it, your mom won’t let me try any new drinks and I like these in the mornings,” Maya said as her voice got lower. Riley knew Maya didn’t like admitting to liking things like that but Riley was working on it because this was just another side of her best friend.

The two of them worked on getting the chairs in place and turning on the espresso machine so that it could warm up. The baker who worked with had baked everything they needed the night before because they couldn’t work that morning so Riley made sure that everything was ready in the back of the café. She heard giggling from the other room, when she peeked her head out she saw Maya and Josh dancing around the café together as Josh twirled her around. Riley thought it was sweet, especially since they were both so happy. They both deserved it.

When she finished she quietly left out the back door and walked home to see her father sitting on the front stoop waiting for her.

“Ready for your first lesson?” he said twirling the keys around.

“Yes,” she said smiling.

The moment he gestured towards the car three teenage boys climbed in, Lucas hadn’t told anyone that they had been driving together, but Riley knew that Zay like Maya would want to see her father freaking out about anything. Farkle liked to analyze everything, and his father didn’t have a lot of time to teach him so he wanted to see it firsthand just to know if he wanted this moment with his own father.

“I didn’t have this many children,” her father said as he climbed into the car. “But now my own wife says we do.”

“Oh dad, don’t worry so much, you’ll get used to it,” she said smiling, as her father pulled out of the parking space.

“Especially if Riley and Lucas get married,” Zay said and her father swerved.

“Zay, for crying out loud don’t say things like that,” Lucas said as he clutched the seatbelt. “I don’t want to die in a traffic accident.”

“No because you want to die of old age with the person you love by your side,” Zay said and her father stopped the car sending them lurching forward.

Riley couldn’t believe what was happening, “Zay, stop or else I’m telling Cassie,” she said while looking at him. “And daddy I love you but can you please stop being so freaked out about whatever Zay’s saying. He’s just trying to get a rise out of you because I’m 99% sure that Maya told him to record everything.”

“How did you know?” Zay said looking at her shocked.

“She’s my best friend and she couldn’t be here, what else do you think she would do?”

The rest of the ride was a quiet one, there was small lot just off the bridge that her father had chosen for her to drive around. It wasn’t as big as the one Lucas normally took her to but she wasn’t afraid. That was the first thing she had learned, being afraid only made it hard on the person driving.

“Come on Riley time for you to put that learner’s permit to good use,” her father said, Lucas gave her a secret smile, that she had only seen because she looked up at him.

Thinking back to that first lesson over the summer she realized that her biggest fear wasn’t driving as much as it was driving with her father in the car. Lucas had calmly talked her through the gear shift, and making sure to look at all the mirrors. Farkle stood off to the side, as he pulled out a camera to record the whole process.

“You’re being awfully quiet,” Lucas said when he stood next to the genius.

“I’m just trying to wake up, as awake as I am normally during the week, I didn’t really sleep a lot last night,” Farkle said before rubbing his eyes.

“Anything you want to talk about?” Lucas asked as Riley sat behind the wheel of the car and waved at him. Her father looked as if he was explaining what was what inside of the car so Lucas knew they had some time before she started driving.

“I was just wondering about what it would be like to just be normal… I mean I grew up as normal as possible but I’m still a genius, and Stuart Minkus’s son, I know I can do a lot with how smart I am, but I don’t want to be defined by my family legacy.”

“In a way I understand, but maybe you should find out what you really want, I’m almost sure that this has something to with the fact that we’re getting ready to apply for college and you’re not sure of what you really want. I’m not sure either.”

“So what should I do?”

“I don’t know, right now we just have to take everything one day at a time, we have to think about what we really want and where we want to be,” Lucas said before waving at Riley who had been waving at him. He watched as Zay sat in the back seat of the car recording the interaction between the father and the daughter pair in the front seat.

“I was thinking that maybe the first thing I should do is have my own driving lessons with my dad, maybe what I’m truly missing is these kinds of family moments.”

“Talk to your dad, I remember back in middle school how you two were, and I know you’ve both gotten closer, but in the end I think you have to work a little harder than most because like you said you’re a genius, and so is he.”

“Thanks Lucas,” Farkle said smiling for the first time that morning.

Riley sat in the car as her father explained everything to her, but the moment she put the car into drive she knew this wasn’t going to be as fun as when Lucas had taught her over the summer.

“Riley you have to make sure the check all of the mirrors, they’re very important,” her father said as the car moved at five miles per hour. “Be careful of people on the street, see those flowers over there think of them as people, you don’t want to hit them.”

“I know daddy,” she said trying not to freak out as much as she could. Her father made her nervous even though she knew that she didn’t have to be, but he also continued to point out things to her and all of a sudden she felt like a snail moving towards their doom.

“Riley be careful of that tree right there,” he said. The tree was fifty feet away and nowhere near where they were.

“I’m not going to hit the tree dad, it’s far enough that it won’t be a problem.”

“Riley no matter what you think everything is a problem when you’re on the road and if you can’t respect the rules you’re going to be hurt and I don’t want you to get hurt.”

This continued for another ten minutes, and she had hit her breaking point when she had barely moved within ten feet of the same tree she had been driving towards. She was turning the car when her father freaked out about the tree, she slammed the breaks, put the car into park and unbuckled her seatbelt. She got out of the car and started pacing back and forth.

“Riley what were you thinking? You were going to hit that tree,” he said to her the moment he was out of the car.

“No dad I wasn’t, I was turning the car and you freaked out. I was driving so slow a turtle could pass us.”

“You don’t understand why driving is so terrifying, Riley you could die if you make the wrong choice.”

“I know dad, you’ve reminded me every day since I got my permit, but this is taking things too far. I took the five-hour class, and I want to take the road test but with you in the car I get so nervous because you’ll freak out every second I’m behind the wheel.”

“Well I’m allowed to freak out I’m your father, now get in the car, we’re going home.”

“Fine,” she said but got in the backseat instead of the front. Lucas sat next to her and took her hand, while Farkle sat in the front with his camera. Zay stayed quiet the entire time, because he had seen every second of her father freaking out.

When they reached the apartment, and her father parked the car, Riley rushed off towards the door without saying goodbye to the guys before standing inside of the apartment where her mother sat on the couch watching television.

“You know he’s crazy right, he’s insane,” Riley said as she sat next to her mother. “I was turning and car away from the tree and he freaked out thinking that I was going to hit the tree.”

Her mother sighed. “This is why I allowed Lucas to teach you to drive over the summer, your father is a little too overprotective of you.”

“You let Lucas teach her to drive,” her father said slamming the door shut. “You let them go out without anyone with them.”

“Yes Cory because she’s sixteen years old, almost seventeen, she’s getting close to graduating high school but you’re still afraid.”

“She’s my little girl Topanga, she’s growing up too fast,” he said and that’s when Riley knew that the real problem wasn’t her driving but her father realizing that she was almost grown up and perhaps leaving to go to school somewhere else.

“Daddy,” Riley said looking at her father. “I will always be your little girl, but I need to keep growing and learning, I can’t stay stuck at five.”

“I know,” he said crying into his hands. “It’s just that you were so small just yesterday.”

“Cory, Riley was never small,” her mother said smiling. “And there’s still Auggie, plus who knows maybe we can have another kid one day. Not now because I have a huge case but maybe someday in the future.”

Riley looked at her mother and what she was suggesting, “Another baby mom? Are you sure?”

“Well your Uncle Josh was born late in life, so who knows what the future would bring,” her mother said smiling. “For now I’m just going to focus on my kids, my husband, my work, and the little bundle of fur in the corner.”

Artemis lifted her head for a moment and barked before laying back down and falling asleep.

“Does this mean no more driving lessons?” her father asked.

“God no,” her mother said laughing. “I’ve seen Riley drive she’s very careful, we just wanted you to have this moment with her.”

“Lucas gets all the moments now,” he said sneering.

“Not all of them dad, I mean you still have a couple of good ones coming in the future,” Riley said before hugging him.

Riley had taken the driving test two weeks after her father’s meltdown, he waited for her at the DMV while the test was happening. He smiled and hugged her when she told him that she passed, Lucas was the second person to find out because he had wanted to give them that moment after hearing about what had happened.

Farkle, after his talk with Lucas, convinced his father to teach him to drive, which made everyone happy for him because they all needed smiles as the year went on. They needed these moments because very soon they would have to make some tough decisions. So they have to cherish the small moments in their lives.


	6. Girl Meets Protest

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because I got a lot of hate over writing this chapter I want to say this,  
> 1 - This is more of a political piece, I wanted to write real life into this fic, and there's nothing really stopping me. This is one of the many things I had wished the show had addressed, that I had hopped that the Disney Channel would use to realize that there are so many people out there who aren't truly represented in the media and that sometimes they have to take a risk in order to change the world.  
> 2 - I wrote this after a very hard year, when things like this continued to happen, and I ended up reading the Hate U Give in one of my classes, it's something that should be addressed, and if you don't want to read this chapter it's up to you. I'm not playing good cop bad cop, I just wanted to write something that is very real in the city I live in (which is NYC) and this is what came out. I got into a lot of arguments with people over this chapter, something so small, but it's a very real thing in our world and it's what I think the show should have addressed if it had been on a different network. You can't negate the read world.
> 
> If you wish to skip this chapter you may, it won't entirely effect the rest of the story, It only effects Zay's choice of what he wanted to study in college

Riley writes an article, with the help of Zay, about the trouble with Racism and the growing acts of violence against people of color, which sparks a debate in school.

Riley had to work on Friday night, closing the café so that her parents could have a date night, she was lonely, mainly because Lucas had flown out to Texas with his parents for the wedding of one of his family members so he wasn’t there to keep her company. She only closed on nights when her parents wanted to spend some time together, so Auggie went over to Ava’s and Riley helped out at the café. Of course all of her friends were on dates or with family members so she was alone at nine o’clock at night counting out the register.

“I feel so alone,” she sighed, but decided to make the best of it and turned on some music while she cleaned. Her house was close by and usually her parents stopped by to pick her up on the way home from their date.

A knock on the door alerted her to Zay standing outside waiting, it was still warm even though it was October so she knew he wasn’t there for coffee.

“Hey Zay,” she said opening up for him. “What brings you over here at this time of day?”

“Well Lucas asked me to help you out since he’s the one who normally helps out, he was also afraid that something might happen, so I’m here as your temporary knight in shining armor,” Zay said walking into the café.

“Can you help put all of the chairs on top of the tables while I get the mop? Start with the ones inside, and we’ll do the ones out there together since I have to chain them up.”

“Sure thing sugar,” he said.

“Zay,” she said pushing the mop bucket through the seating area. “I need help with something, because honestly I don’t know where to start.”

“Is this a relationship question, a life question, or something in general?”

“I need an idea for my monthly article for the magazine I write for.”

“You’re still doing that, and cheerleading and this, plus hanging out with us, and dating Lucas? Riley where do you get the time to do all of this stuff?”

“I need to get scholarships for college so I do things, my parents and Lucas are very supportive of everything that I do, but they also make sure I stop every once and a while.”

“Well I’m very proud of you too, now what do you need from me?”

“An idea, I’m drawing up a blank right now, I was thinking on doing it on friendships, using our group as a part of it but I can’t get it right.”

“Why not just interview all of us, and write about how different we all are but also about why that’s a good thing, why you need close friends that really care about one another, you can talk about all the things we all do, and show others that hey everyone has some kind of problems but we all try our best even when our best isn’t what’s needed… or something like that.”

“Maybe, I still have a week before submitting the draft to the editor so I’ll think about it. Thanks Zay it’s a really good idea, we’re all so different so maybe people would understand that everyone has something they’re going through.”

“Maybe I should write something for you one day?”

“You could, maybe something to make your parents proud, and if they take it, well it’ll look good on your applications.”

“Those applications rear their ugly heads again.”

Riley laughed as she walked outside. “Come on let’s get these chairs set and we can go home, my parents would drop you off if you want.”

“That’s fine with me, when are they getting here?”

“Maybe another ten minutes, they’re usually here by the time I’m done so I’m never sure,” she said linking the chairs to the chain that normally held them together overnight. “Oh shoot, I forgot the lock give me a minute.”

Zay nodded and continued to link up the last of the chairs, thinking of what he could write for Riley. He only had sports on his applications so far so it would be something to think about, well that and his summer job at the animal shelter because Lucas had bugged him to sign up. There was also all of the volunteer work that they were required to do for the school. He hadn’t thought that he had done so much until he saw how much Riley did on her own. In the end his college applications would be filled with all kinds of things, and that was something his parents would be proud of.

Once he got the last of the chair’s in place and chained it up he sat back and waited for Riley to get back.

“Young man, stand up and slowly move away from the table,” someone said from behind him. “Put your hands above your head.”

Zay knew automatically that this wasn’t going to end well, he did as he was told and slowly moved away from where he had been sitting. He learned a long time ago that he wasn’t going to live the easy life that Lucas lived, he was someone of color and his life was about following certain rules or else he would die before he ever graduated high school. He had Lucas when he had lived in Texas, they played JV football and most of the people in the area knew him so he didn’t worry too much before. Now he worried because New York wasn’t like the small part of Texas he had come from.

What worried him the most was that if Riley came out at the wrong time, the whole situation would quickly go south so he hoped that she would move slowly.

“Can you tell me what you were doing with that chain,” the police officer said to him as he pushed Zay towards the glass window making him face the inside of the café he always went to, a place where he had always felt safe.

“Sir, I was helping my friend close up the café here and she went to get the padlock so that the chairs would be locked together for the night,” he said as clearly as he could while his heart pounded in his ears.

“There have been a string of robberies in this neighborhood,” the officer said padding him down. “The person matches your description.”

Zay knew what that translated to, the officer was basically telling him that the person was black, not that he actually matched Zay’s description. Zay didn’t offer any words he just watched as Riley saw what was happening in front of her. He watched as she slowly made her way towards the door and stood there until the officer saw her. What Zay hadn’t expected was that the officer would point the gun at Riley. Innocent Riley who saw sunshine and rainbows in everything, Riley who would scream and shout if someone had been wrongly attacked, Riley who was quickly becoming his best friend even over Lucas. She was the one person who had always made sure to include him, who humored his antics, and who took baking class with him.

“Get out of the store miss,” the officer said as Riley held her hands up dropping the padlock onto the floor. The officer opened the door and yanked her out of the café and pushed her next to Zay before calling it in as a burglary.

Neither one of them said a word, they just stood there silent, Riley read the newspaper, she always made sure ever since the debate class, so she knew what was happening. There was nothing either one of them could do to make the situation any better, she didn’t have her ID with her because it was inside the café, Zay knew that the officer wouldn’t even ask him for ID because the man had checked his pockets and just threw his wallet aside as if he were looking for something else.

_You okay_ , Riley mouthed next to him.

_Yeah_ , he replied.

After a few minutes had passed a police car came to a stop in front, lighting the shop window in reds and blues. At the same time Riley could hear her parents shouting at the police officers, her mother the ever present lawyer started berating the man for unlawfully detaining two teenagers. Explaining that she was the owner of the store, and they had committed no crime. Riley was proud of her mother, she would always be proud of her mother, but there was a small part of Riley that said if her parents hadn’t shown up when they did something would have happened that no one would have been able to take back. Riley loved Zay as if he were family and after constantly reading in the news about Black Lives Matter and all the injustices that have happened over the last several years, including in her own city which is one of the most diversified places in the world. It just hurt her heart.

She watched as Zay relaxed a little bit when her mother had shown up, but Riley couldn’t relax, she couldn’t understand why this kept happening to people. No one deserved this. The moment her father walked down towards them Riley just pulled Zay into a hug and felt him shudder before he tightly hugged her back.

“Are you kids alright?” her father said watching the two of them.

“Yeah,” Zay said from the side of her head.

“Yeah,” she said trying to hold back tears.

“Your mother is going to take care of this and then we can go home and Zay we can take you home too and explain everything to your parents so that they don’t worry,” her father said before pulling the two of them into his arms. “You two were so brave, I’m so proud of you.”

Her mother finished with the police, while muttering about suing the city for terrorizing her kids, before she walked down and saw the three of them hugging. She quickly put her arms around them and squeezed tight. No words could explain how they all felt, but Riley knew that her parents would find a way to keep them safe no matter what.

Riley and Zay didn’t tell anyone about what had happened, they were trying to deal in their own ways, mostly it involved the two of them baking three cakes together a batch of cupcakes, and three sheets of cookies, and then promptly eating them all while their parents dealt with the police. Riley’s mother had been serious about going after the city and there was no way to stop her when she was determined to do something.

Instead the two of them walked into school on Monday morning, still coming down from a massive sugar high, while trying to keep what had happened a secret from their friends. They didn’t want to worry anyone, but that had lasted until Riley had seen Lucas for the first time since the end of school on Friday. She automatically started crying as he pulled her into a hug.

“What’s going on?” he asked looking between all of their friends.

Zay sighed and pat Lucas on the back before pulling him and Riley into the hole, everyone else followed curious as to why Riley was in tears so early in the day.

“On Friday, Riley and I were detained by the police while she was closing up Topanga’s,” he said looking down, studying the patterns on the tiles. “It was kind of stressful.”

Riley was shuddering in Lucas’s arms as the tears flowed freely.

“Why?” Lucas said and Zay could see the edges of his best friend’s anger, something that wouldn’t come out fully not while Riley was in his arms.

“Because I was there, a black teenager, who was helping her, in the end it was about being at the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Cassie took his hand and kissed it, he knew that she understood, because of course Cassie is a person of color, just like Smackle was. There was a moment of understanding between the group.

“Riley had been targeted because she had been inside and she had been walking out to meet me, but I also know that she’s the reason I kept it together,” he sighed. “She’s family and I can’t let my family get hurt.”

Riley moved at that moment pulling away from Lucas to grab Zay and pull him into the hug she was sharing with Lucas. All of their friends followed closely behind and they stood there, seven teenagers huddled into a hug, with Zay and Riley at the center.

“What should we do? What can we do?” Cassie asked as she rested her head on Zay’s shoulders.

“We protest, we write articles, we go on social media and scream until we’re heard,” Riley said looking at her friends.

Zay smiled, “Riley’s on the job, we should follow her,” he couldn’t help but love how quickly she was to fight the battle all because it had effected one of them.

They all went their separate ways once the bell rung, his phone went off soon after he sat down.

_I know what I can write, and you’re going to write it with me_ , Riley had written.

He knew what she meant, the article was no longer going to be about a group of multicultural friends from the city, it was going to be about something bigger. It was going to be their way of protesting.

The rest of the week, the two of them worked, they went to Black Lives Matter protest and talked to people, they got the opinion of Riley’s mother, they wrote and bounced ideas off of each other. The article was written by the both of them, but Riley had wanted his name to be first, she knew this was more his story than hers and she wanted to give him the power to tell it. This was also the first time she was going to use her real name, she wasn’t going to hide behind the mask of her alter ego anymore if it meant that she could write something that could change the world.

\----

The Price of Color

by Isaiah Babineaux and Riley Matthews

The most difficult thing someone could be in this world is a person of color, the reason is that they are a person of color. Growing up we wish that we could be something extraordinary, something special, but for many of us we just wish to have what others have without having to work twice as hard to get it. Too many people die in this world, many of them die because they’re in the wrong place at the wrong time, for some of us the reason is that we were just the wrong skin color. We could have done nothing wrong, we could have been playing in a park, walking home from the corner store, or even sitting in a car with our family. Maybe it’s time to change how the police are trained, to change the laws that put some in prison for far longer than others. We have to march, we have to speak out, we just want scream out to the world that we’re human too.


	7. Girl Meets the Geniuses

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A/N: article quoted https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/in-practice/201304/the-science-intimate-relationships

There were three things that Farkle Minkus was certain of, and one of those things confused him a lot of the time. First was that he was a genius, he’s been tested he knows that he’s a genius. Second is that he wants to work hard to change the world, although he wouldn’t mind being president since he can’t take over the world anymore. The third one is that he is truly in love with Isadora Smackle, and for some reason even after all of this time it still confounds him how much he truly cares for another human being. He knows this will change as he grows up, and starts a family, and although him and Smackle don’t have a perfect relationship, in his eyes he couldn’t be happier.

Science cannot explain love so instead he sits at the bay window with his two childhood best friends as he tries to come up with a way to give Smackle a present for their fourth anniversary. Riley and Maya have always supported him, even when he was a small awkward genius who wore turtlenecks and attempted to flirt with them. They all had their own problems and have lived with them as they’ve grown, they help one another, because in the end they’re the family he never truly had. They were his sisters in a way, he loved his parents but sometimes growing up in a huge penthouse apartment was lonely without anyone to share it with.

“So Farkle,” Maya started. “You and Smackle… four years… you’re practically married at this point.”

“No I’m not,” his voice squeaked as he said it.

“Don’t listen to Maya and just tell us what you need our help with,” Riley said as Maya made kissy noises at Farkle. “Maya stop that.”

“Fine but you’re taking all the fun out of this, I always thought that Farkle was going to chase us to the ends of the world,” Maya said smiling. “It was cute, but honestly I like how you and Smackle are so proceed.”

He took a deep breath and found himself straightening his posture. “Well it is about my anniversary, I need some ideas, last year was hard enough but I liked it, so maybe help me figure out where I should start.”

“Okay,” Riley said smiling. “We should start with small things, what have you and Smackle done together? What makes you both happy?”

Farkle sat there and thought about the last four years, “Okay,” he said before telling them the story.

It was something that he didn’t really think about until that moment, but when they had started dating they had joined a science club that mixed several of the top students throughout the city. It was the first time they had become lab partners, before high school they hadn’t had any classes together so working towards the same goal was nice. Smackle had been very awkward with him at first, she liked him but she was still wary of physical touches and often shied away from his touch. They only held hands at first, it was small touches nothing more. He wanted to gain her trust and not scare her away.

What had happened just weeks before Riley’s New Year’s party had them getting closer for the first time. They were working on an experiment, with some high toxic chemicals, and two of them had reacted badly forcing Farkle to pull Smackle behind a table while holding her close. It was the first time they had had real full body contact.

“So what happened?” Maya said looking at him hopefully.

“Well…” he said before continuing the story.

The chemicals hadn’t exploded, thankfully, but they were in each other’s arms, and all Farkle wanted to do was kiss Smackle, his first real kiss with her. Instead he had pulled back and cleared his throat.

“Oh come on,” Maya screamed out.

“Maya,” Riley hissed.

“But… they should have kissed.”

“Shhh woman.”

“That’s all that had happened, things had been awkward the next day and I wasn’t sure what had gone wrong,” he said sighing.

“You should have kissed her, that’s what went wrong,” Maya said.

“MAYA,” Riley shouted.

“Seriously you’re thinking it too so don’t Maya me.”

“We have kissed, but our dates are calm,” he said staring at his fingers. “It’s not about spicing things up or anything, it’s just that our dates aren’t normal in anyway, and I just want to take Smackle somewhere that’s well normal for once.”

“Farkle,” Riley sighed. “It’s not about normal, what I call normal isn’t normal to everyone else, our version of normal depends on ourselves. You and Smackle love science, you love learning just use what you love and find something to do together.”

“Or you could just do something ridiculous like Riley and Lucas did,” Maya said.

“It wasn’t ridiculous,” Riley scoffed at her best friend. “It was just a horse drawn carriage ride, and a carnival. That’s not ridiculous.”

“Not when you could have gone to a haunted house,” Maya smiled.

“No,” Riley answered and that’s when Farkle knew he had lost the two girls, but he had learned that what Riley likes, isn’t what Maya would like, so it couldn’t be what Smackle would like.

“Girls are so complicated,” he said while he was walking home.

A block away from his house he saw his parents dressed for a fancy party, they both waved at him before climbing into the limo and taking off. This week’s charity was for veteran’s and families of fallen soldiers. They went to one party a week, to help raise funds for something, Farkle accompanied them when he wasn’t with his friends but he hadn’t wanted to go this time because he from watching the Matthews that sometimes his parents needed date nights.

Sighing he went up to his room and stared at the stars as they glowed above his head, wishing for an idea to come to him. The year before he had gotten her a star, how would he be able to get her something that’s just as meaningful while at the same. That’s when it came to him, as a star flew overhead.

\-----

Isadora Smackle couldn’t understand boys, science dictates that relationships about the ability of unpacking the nature of good communication, which is a challenge for someone who honestly didn’t think that they would have a partner let alone a long term relationship. She was still trying to understand what it meant to kiss a boy, and while she knew she loved Farkle with all of her heart, kissing was still something that was foreign to her.

As much as she wanted to talk to someone about it, she knew that her friends would only tell her to quote unquote go for it, and she wasn’t really the type. As much as blurted things out at people, she honestly did so because she was afraid of not being able to fit in with her group. Riley was the only one outside of Farkle that she was truly comfortable with, she loved all of her other friends but sometimes it was difficult to say something without fearing the outcome.

A knock on the door drew her away from her thoughts, thinking it was her mother she quickly stood and opened the door only to be greeted by the brunette.

“Hi Smackle,” Riley said smiling. “I figured that you needed my help.”

“How did you know that?” Isadora answered wondering if she had sent a message earlier without realizing it.

“Well I remember last year how you needed help with your anniversary with Farkle, and he was at my house earlier so I figured that you were in the same predicament… am I wrong?”

“I’m in a predicament.”

Riley sat down on her bed pulling Isadora with her, and she couldn’t understand these situations. Why do girls have this need to sit down and talk about everything because even after knowing Riley for years the concept still baffled her.

“Tell me what’s wrong and I’ll try to help.”

“Okay,” Isadora said as she turned to face her friend. “Why does Farkle hesitate to kiss me? I understand that at this stage in a relationship most couples are intimate with one another and have even had intercourse…”

Riley’s hands shot up closing Isadora’s mouth. “I’m going to stop you right there, first we’re only teenagers, and yes I know that some teenagers have… well you know… but if you’re not comfortable with that level of intimacy yet you shouldn’t rush into things.”

Isadora nodded, she was not ready for that either but sometimes blurting out statistics and facts were easier than the conversation she was currently having.

“Okay, anyway Smackle maybe what you and Farkle need is to become more comfortable, not only with one another but also around other people. I’m pretty sure he just worries that he’s pushing for somethings too fast and he doesn’t want to scare you.”

“That’s understandable, I am not truly ready for that level of intimacy, but there are other things I want to do.”

“Well it would be nice to kiss more often, maybe even make-out as you would put it.”

“Have you told him this?”

“No, the first time I thought he was going to kiss me he backed away,” she said remembering that day in the lab, she had been shocked that he hadn’t moved in and then spent three days analyzing why.

“Let’s try something different,” Riley said smiling before pulling Isadora to her feet and all but dragging her out of her house. They found themselves inside of a make-up store named Sephora across from Union Square park.

Riley spent twenty minutes picking out all kinds of make-up and putting them in a bag before rushing off to pay for them. Isadora was dumbfounded by the store itself because her mother had often tried to bring her inside of one but Isadora couldn’t understand why. Afterwards Riley pulled her into another store and handed her an outfit, it looked like something Isadora would wear.

“Try it on,” was all Riley had said before rushing her to the dressing room.

The dress was a dark blue color, with small white dots, that slowly turned into a light blue. When she tried it on she noticed how well it fit her, so she went to show Riley and the other girl smiled back at her before handing her a sweater and a pair of shoes. When they were done Riley dragged her back home and helped her get dressed.

“Why am I dressing up?”

“Farkle sent you a message about going on a date, he had a driver, so I wanted to work a little magic, plus I know what clothes you like, but I didn’t see any make up in your room.”

“I know it’s wrong to read someone’s messages, but since you’re doing this as a way to help I will let it pass.”

“Good, now sit,” Riley said pushing her down. “This lip gloss taste like peaches, it doesn’t really come in any other flavors but it’s nice, I grabbed some other things too, but mostly this and a small spritz of this perfume which smells like strawberries and you should be good to go.”

Isadora let her friend work on her for ten minutes, before she was shoved out her own door and into the arms of her waiting boyfriend, who was wearing a blue button down and a nice pair of slacks.

“Isadora,” his voice squealed for a moment before he cleared his throat. “I have a driver, he’s going to take us to the movies… and dinner afterwards.”

She felt over dressed for a movie, but it was nice because he dressed up too. Farkle stood there holding her hand, so she stood on the tips of her toes like so many movies she had studied since dating became a part of her life, and quickly kissed him on the lips. His eyes widened for a moment before he closed them so she closed hers, while holding his hand to balance herself.

\------

Riley watched the two geniuses kiss thinking how sweet it was and knew that as soon as they talked everything would be fine. Once the two of them were gone she skipped home thinking how nice it was to have her friends be so happy with one another. She also realized how adorable the two geniuses were, they loved one another and tried so hard, and it was cute to watch.


	8. Girl Meets World of Terror 5

“Hello, my name is Auggie “Doggie” Matthews, and Welcome to another Scary Time Theater,” he says as he sits behind a microphone, the room glittering from the lights hitting the golden background. “What if you found yourself in a whole new world, and not everything is what it seemed to be before. As a storm rages through your home, and takes you away, I too shall take you away to this tale of terror, beware sometimes the truth is hidden behind something as simple as a dark curtain.”

It was Halloween and Riley decided to dress like Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, so that when she went with Auggie and Ava on their trick or treating she could also take Artemis with her. Everything changed when on the morning of Halloween, it was storming outside, her mother had taken Auggie to school early because the school play was going on for a test run during school hours and he had to be there, but Riley was stuck at home in full costume because the storm had grown since they had left.

“Oh Artemis, I’m so sorry I couldn’t take you trick or treating,” she said petting her dog as she watched the storm rage on outside the living room bay window.

She had fallen asleep watching the rain pour down onto the city soaking every inch of the asphalt, Artemis fast asleep on her lap.

The sound of a branch breaking the window caused her to jump, grabbing the small pup and rushing towards the couch so that she could call her parents to tell her what had happened. Just as she grabbed the house phone the power went out and Artemis let out a bark. The phone was dead when she put it to her ear so she reached into her pocket and turned on her cell but there was no signal. She knew this wasn’t good but it was hard to think when you had to find a safe place during a storm. As she tried to get away from the living room and move towards the kitchen something came in through the broken window and she tried to duck but she hadn’t been fast enough and it had hit her on the head leaving her on the floor passed out with Artemis frantically running around her barking.

\-----------

“Sometimes when you fall asleep during a storm, the world around you may change, and you may not be where you once were,” Auggie said from behind his curtain.

“Why are you talking in riddles?” Doy said to him.

“Not now Doy, I’m trying to narrate this story,” Auggie said just before Doy smiled and walked away dressed like a monkey.

“What will happen to Riley when she finds herself in a new world? Stay tuned and find out.”

\-----------

“Wake up,” someone’s soft voice said. “Wake up,” the person nudged Riley and when she opened her eyes she was looking at a beautiful blonde woman wearing a large crown and a short fluffy pink dress.

“Oh look she’s awake,” someone else said.

Riley looked around her and saw her classmates dressed in all kinds of clothes but they were in the gym at John Quincy, her old middle school, and her classmates looked a lot younger than they did now.

“You’ve slayed the evil witch by landing on her so these are now yours,” younger Yogi said while handing her a pair of glittering red converse shoes from a person who was now crushed under her couch from the living room.

‘How odd,’ she thought to herself.

“You must go on a journey my friend,” the voice from earlier said. Now that her eyes were focused Riley could see Maya standing there wearing that pink dress, the crown tilted slightly on her head, as the jewels glittered under the lights of the gym.

“If you wish to go home again, you must follow the purple linoleum floor to the wizard and have him grant you the wish of going back home,” Maya said to her. “You’ve killed Missy the Wicked Witch and freed these people from her reign, so now we give you her shoes, in hopes that they would carry you onward in your journey.”

“Onward towards the wizard,” younger Darby said pulling Riley up.

“Onwards,” younger Sarah said helping Riley into the shoes.

“Onwards,” everyone else said as Yogi pulled Riley towards the doors following the purple floor.

Maya followed her down the gym and stood next to her, Riley had never seen her friend wearing something so puffy, but it fit her in a way, and made her best friend glow.

“Now follow this road,” she said with a wave as the doors flew open revealing the lockers of her old middle school. “Follow it was it goes, and when you reach the end you’ll find yourself at the wizard’s palace and he will help get you home.”

A small yelp drew Riley’s attention to the basket in younger Sarah’s hand as she held it out to Riley. Artemis was in the basket looking at Riley expectantly as Riley looked between her friends, and the purple tiled floor.

“Go on now,” Maya said, it was still odd to hear her talk like that, all nice and proper without some random quip or joke. “Follow the road onwards.”

“Onwards,” her younger classmates said before Maya pushed her forwards and the doors slammed behind Riley.

“Yup that’s the Maya I know,” she said as she started walking down the halls of her former middle school.

As she made her way down the stairs she saw the hallway covered in stalks of wheat, but the purple floor was still there leading her way. Riley saw that the wheat was actually growing out of the floor which was strange, but what was stranger was that there was a Scarecrow standing on top of the friendship bench reciting some complicated equation. Riley walked towards the figure only to find herself face to face with Farkle.

“Finally,” he said struggling against the binds that tied him to the post. “Someone had finally come to help me.”

Riley untied his legs and arms before Farkle stood and stretched. “How long have you been stuck there?”

“A very long time, I’m Farkle the Scarecrow, and you are?”

“Riley.”

“And what brings you here?”

“I’ve been sent to the Wizard so that I could get home, why were you tied up?”

“Because an evil little witch made sure that I wouldn’t be able to leave these infernal wheat fields.”

“Well the witch is dead, she was crushed by my couch,” Riley said still weirded out by the fact that her couch had killed a person.

“Well good, I need to join you on your journey to see the Wizard, because the witch took something very important to me and I need to get it back.”

Riley thought about the story she was in, and knew that this had to be the Wizard of Oz which meant Farkle wanted a brain, but if he was reciting a formula it couldn’t be that he needed it.

“What do you need to get back then?” she asked wondering if the story was going to unfold the same way.

“The witch took my girlfriend, she was a scarecrow too, we used to be side by side talking about math and science, until the witch came and tied me to the post, and taking my love far far away.”

‘So he was looking for Smackle,’ she said to herself.

“Will you help me?”

“I will,” she said with a smile.

The two of them continued down the purple floor together and soon after leaving the wheat filled hallway they found themselves in her father’s old classroom. The words _People Change People_ written on the board. In the middle of the room sat a tin man who was just looking out to the world unmoving. Riley walked around and saw that it was Zay, he had a tin top hat and a tin suit with a small bowtie. Fashionable Zay, very dapper.

“Do you need some help?” she asked and he blinked back for a moment.

“There’s a cookie over there that will restore my strength but the affects only last so long,” he said and she quickly found herself rushing off to get the cookie before coming back and giving it to him.

Once gone he began to stretch. “Thanks Sugar,” he said smiling. “I need to have my revenge on this little witch who has cursed me. I can only move if I have these cookies, and the person who makes them was sent away.”

Riley couldn’t help but smile, Zay would never need to journey to find his heart because he wore it on his sleeve, but his weakness for his grandmother’s cookies were always at the forefront of his mind. He loved his grandmother, but feared losing her as well so of course her cookies had a healing effect on him.

“We’ll help you my friend, for we are going to the Wizard in hopes that he restores our lives to what they’re supposed to be,” Farkle said to Zay.

“Thank you my friends,” Zay said smiling.

Riley loved when her friends were happy. “Let’s continue our journey.”

The purple road led out the other door, but when Riley opened it they were no longer at school but on the downtown train that she had always gotten on to go to school. There was no one on the train except for someone on the far end dressed in a cowboy outfit with longer than usual blondish brownish hair. The train jolted sending her forward onto the guy’s lap.

“Normally I wouldn’t have pegged you for someone who would directly fall into a lion’s lap, but it seems as though you’re the one I’ve searched for all along,” he said and Riley couldn’t help but blush. This wasn’t middle school Lucas at all, this was a mix of Texas Lucas, and High School Lucas, he was a lion and she was in his arms.

“Lucas, you’re not like that anymore,” she said hoping to tame his Texas side. “You’re stronger than that and you know it, remember you want to be a veterinarian.

Lucas smiled at her and she could see the storm settling in his eyes, “Thank you,” he said pulling her into a hug. “I was cursed by a witch, and I know once you’re gone I will be trapped in that dark place forever.”

“I’m not leaving you behind,” she said smiling as she placed a kiss on his forehead. “Now let’s defeat the witch, get to the Wizard and go home.”

Lucas nodded at her as she jumped off his lap and pulled him off the seat. The train stopped at the station as the floor matched itself up and the purple floor was leading them out. They were now standing in the hole at Abigail Adams High School and above them stood their lockers and the purple floor was leading them towards the end of their journey.

But once they got to the top, the seniors from Freshman year tried to push them back down into the hole. “You’re not ready for this,” they kept saying.

“What you say doesn’t matter, as long as we’re together, we’re going to get home,” Riley said as if they were the magic words.

She held onto her friends and the seniors disappeared from sight leaving nothing but butterflies floating in the air. Before they could step forward a little witch appeared, her skin green, wearing a long black dress.

“Really, they couldn’t stop you, geez useless I tell you,” she said and from the sound of her voice Riley knew that it was Ava.

“Let us through you evil witch,” Zay said to her but Riley held him back.

She walked up to Ava, leaving the boys behind and kneeled onto the ground and hugged her.

“No let go of me, I must defeat you,” Ava screamed until all the green bleed out of her body leaving nothing but the blonde little girl her brother loved so much. “No fair,” she said pouting.

“Let’s go,” Riley said holding her hand out to Ava. “Auggie’s waiting for you.”

“Fine,” Ava said taking Riley’s hand.

Lucas joined them, taking Riley’s other hand, Zay and Farkle next to him as they stood in front of her father’s classroom door. The door opened revealing a room covered in glitter and gold.

“Who dares enter my chamber,” a voice said but Riley had had enough.

“Come on Auggie it’s time to go home,” she said before hearing someone huff.

“Fine,” her brother’s voice said as he walked out from behind a black curtain. “You ruin all the fun.”

“Is it so bad that I want to spend the day with my little brother?” she said as she let go of Ava and walked towards him. “Let’s go home.”

“Okay,” he said in defeat. “Everything will go back to normal once you click your heels three times and well you know the rest.”

She did, and she realized she only went on the journey because she knew that along the way she would have to bring together this strange group of people. They were her family just as much as her parents and her brothers, and she loved them all. Maya stepped forward dressed in her pink frills, Smackle next to her in an outfit matching Farkle’s. They were her family.

\---------

When Riley woke up she was in the emergency room, her father looking at her with worry. She smiled at him for a moment.

“What happened?”

“I was on my way back because the school asked that the students stay home,” he said taking her hand. “The storm was really bad, and you mother called and said that the alarm went off on the living room windows, when I got there you were on the floor and you had this gash on your head.”

“I had the weirdest dream,” she said smiling at him.

“I bet you had a pretty nasty head wound. The doctors want to keep you overnight since you were knocked out.”

“But Auggie, and trick or treating?”

“No one is going out today so don’t worry too much, plus they’re all worried about you, Lucas is probably still waiting outside for me to let him in, but I told him to wait.”

“Daddy don’t be mean to Lucas.”

“I’m not don’t worry,” he said with a smile. “I’m going to let him in now.”

She laughed knowing he would rather keep Lucas out but since she was in the hospital he wouldn’t be that mean. Her father left, pulling his phone out before Lucas walked inside.

“I was so worried,” he said rushing to her side and carefully taking her hand. “I had gotten to school and they said classes were canceled but your dad was freaking out because you wouldn’t pick up the phone. We found out that the cell tower had been knocked down and he had to stop me from running out into the storm to find you.”

“Good thing I never left my house,” she sighed. “Well it wasn’t that good.”

“It’s fine, you’re alright, and everything is right with the world,” he said leaning towards her and kissing her on her forehead, just like she had done in her dream. Her father making a noise as he walked back inside.

“Everyone is at the house, they boarded up the window and it’ll be fixed by the end of the week,” he said reminding Riley of the alarm.

“Dad when did you get alarms installed on the windows?” she asked curious.

“Probably after that night Lucas slept over,” he said trying to act like it was normal. “I make sure your windows are locked before I turn it on, but I get an alert if the windows are broken.”

“The man is paranoid, maybe he should be the one in the hospital,” she said rolling her eyes which only made her grab her head.

Lucas laughed, and her father sighed. As far as dreams went it wasn’t a bad one, and in the end everyone was saved.

\------------

Across town in a sleepy Greenwich Village Brownstone, Auggie Matthews sat on his bed smiling as he ate a candy apple. “I hope you enjoyed another Halloween story,” he said smiling as he stood and left his room.


	9. Girl Meets the Problem with Dating

Maya learned in the seventh grade that Mr. Matthews worried the most about Riley dating Lucas, to the point where he had given her a cell phone just so she could send him messages about what the two of them were doing. He hadn’t outright said it, but it was implied and she knew it. So every once and a while she’d send him a message, this is what going on… this is what they’re talking about… don’t worry too much.

Riley didn’t know about this, it was the one thing that she had never told her best friend for life about because in the end Maya wanted someone to worry about her like that. Maya got her wish when her mother married Shawn, he worried and showed her that her mother worried as well. So when Riley took care of Maya’s problems she didn’t worry too much about it because it was Riley’s way of helping her. So of course sending messages to Mr. Matthews was Maya’s way of helping Riley.

Except she hadn’t expected to keep doing it until the last year of high school, and she hadn’t expected Josh to start helping her with it.

“I know my brother worries, it has a lot to do with Riley being born so close to when I was born, and how she was born right after September 11th, he worries too much,” Josh said while they sat at a café not too far from the park that Riley and Lucas were having a picnic.

“What happened when you were born?” she asked not knowing the whole story and being curious about the guy she’d known almost all of her life, the one who she was falling deeply in love with.

“Well I almost died,” he said with a sad look on his face that made her heart break just a little bit. “There were complications, and I was born premature… I’m amazed Shawn hasn’t told you because he was there. He’s a part of my family, him and his brother both, and in a way I’m the baby brother he never got to have even if we’re not blood related and now he gives me the same look Cory gives Lucas.”

Maya took him in her arms and hugged him tight, she realized at that moment that there could have been a million ways everything could have been different in their lives, but she was happy for the moment she had met Josh Matthews.

“You know I was under the impression that you were some hardcore bad girl, but I have a feeling that the older you get all there was… well it was just an act in a way.”

“You’re not allowed to tell anyone or I’ll kick your ass,” she said smiling.

Josh laughed before pulling away, “We’re on recon today, but who said that this can’t be a date,” he smiled at her. “So if they notice us they’ll just think it’s a coincidence.”

“That sounds like a plan,” she said as the both went back to watching the couple across the street on a fall picnic. “You know I don’t understand how they can have a picnic in November, it’s cold out here.”

“Well you know Riley she loves to do all kinds of things, plus if I had to think about it from Lucas’s side in all of this well it just means more time to cuddle, I mean look at them,” he said nodding his head towards the couple.

Maya watched as Riley snuggled up to Lucas’s side and he put his arm around her, while all around them leaves fell in orange and red.

“They started dating in the fall, it could be why it’s so special to them,” Maya said smiling.

Josh took her hand in his and gently squeezed it, bringing her back to where she sat, she could have that, she could have it with Josh. Simple moments was all it took to make it real, and she hadn’t even noticed how they were slowly making their way through her life.

“We started dating towards the end of winter so maybe we can do something then,” he said pulling her hand towards his lips for a quick kiss. “Normal couple stuff.”

“I’ll be eighteen next year, so it wouldn’t be so awkward for you to date me either,” she said jokingly. “You know with that whole three years thing.”

Josh laughed at her. “I know that I’m never going to live that down, seriously. But I also know that if that’s what you want to remember when we have a fight in the future, for now though can we let it go.”

“For now, but next big fight we have I’m going to bring it up and then laugh in your face.”

“That’s fine by me,” he said as he leaned in to kiss her.

It was a quick peck on the lips, but the two of them had been so wrapped up in one another that they hadn’t realized that Riley and Lucas had moved on from their spot. When Maya finally noticed she didn’t know what to think about how they had gotten away.

“Don’t worry too much, they’re allowed to be alone,” Josh said smiling.

“No they aren’t, her father makes most of us watch them to make sure nothing happens, especially when they’re supposed to be ‘alone’,” she said using air quotes with her fingers.

“Well maybe it’s time that my brother learns to let go, I mean she’s applying for colleges and you’re all going to be gone next year, for all we know they could both end up in Texas, or Philly, or Canada.”

Maya groaned before looking back at Josh. “This was not my fault, whatever he asks just say you distracted me because I’m not in the mood to deal with the wrath of your brother.”

Josh laughed as he pulled her up, “Come on let’s go on a real date.”

\----------

“Are you sure they didn’t see us?” Riley said as Lucas pulled her down the street. They had seen Maya and Josh hiding inside of the Starbucks across the street from the park when they decided to eat their lunch in the park.

Dates have never been easy for the two of them, mainly because Riley was almost certain that they were always being followed. The only time they had been left alone was for her sixteenth birthday and that was because they had planned a surprise party for her. Other than that day Riley would see Maya with Josh, or one of them, sometimes Zay, who brought Cassie with him when they started dating. Farkle and Smackle followed them sometimes but Riley was almost certain that they had done it so that they could understand normal couples. To Riley nothing about being followed was normal, nothing about her entire relationship with Lucas had been normal.

“Don’t worry Riley, they didn’t see us, now let go to the movies, and watch something until it’s time to have dinner,” he said pulling her away.

“I feel bad for them because my dad is going to freak but,” she said as she pulled him closer to her and leaned against his arm. “I just want one date where we’re not surrounded by people.”

“Okay, so movie, then Dave and Busters then home,” he said as they walked from Union Square Park all the way to Times Square. It was a long walk but they held hands the whole time and it made Riley smile.

She had wanted normal, but she couldn’t help but worry what would happen the moment her father realized what had happened. She turned off her phone and just decided to live in the moment for once. When she had decided on turning her phone off Lucas had smiled before turning off his. This day was just for them and no one else.

The theater was empty when they had walked in so they picked seats in one of the corners near the exit, because as happy as she could be about being alone with Lucas, the seat also gave her the advantage if anyone had found them. When they sat down Lucas laughed before kissing her on the forehead before walking back out to get their snacks. When Lucas came back and sat down she was so happy that she was bouncing up and down.

“Riley,” he said laughing at her. “Stop jumping up and down.”

“I can’t I’m so excited to see this movie,” she said smiling as he handed her the popcorn and set the drink down between them. One drink with two straws, and Riley knew that it was lemonade because they had drunk soda with their lunch.

They mixed their snacks, and Lucas put the popcorn bag between them with the soda on Riley’s side. He always put it there because he knew she would put too much popcorn in her mouth and almost choke on it, it was something that happened whenever they went on their dates and she smiled every time. She put her head on his shoulder as the previews started and they watched the movie in silence, laughing when something funny happened. Every once and a while Lucas would watch her as she laughed at the screen and she looked back at him smiling before he would give her a quick kiss.

Making out was never on the agenda when they went to the movies, and it wasn’t because they hadn’t wanted to, it was mostly because they truly enjoyed watching movies together. With the price of going they had to enjoy every minute of the movie. When the credits began to roll they waited as everyone slowly made their way out of the theater. That was when Lucas leaned in and gave her a soft kiss, it tasted like butter and chocolate, and those were two things that she would always associate with Lucas Friar.

The rest of the day was spent paying games at Dave and Busters, and eating dinner. Riley was so full when she was finished and so happy that she knew it had been a good day.

“Come on, we’ll walk home to burn off all that food we ate,” Lucas said taking her hand and pulling her down the street.

“This day was so perfect, and it’s all going to end the moment you get me to my front stoop because my dad is probably having a coronary right now from the fact that my phone’s been off this entire time.”

“Yeah well it’s the price we pay for trying to date like normal people.”

“Normal, what exactly is normal? I swear I wouldn’t be surprised if he transferred to teach wherever I go to college.”

Lucas laughed and then stopped walking to look at her. “Please tell me you’re kidding.”

“I do not kid when it comes to my father’s need make sure I don’t do anything normal.”

They kept walking while Riley thought and hoped that her father wouldn’t go that far, especially since he had become more and more protective the older she got. Sighing as they walked to her front door she knew what was coming before they made it up the stairs.

Her father ran out the door and grabbed her just as her mother walked out from behind him and glared at him.

“Cory I knew where they were going, Lucas sent me a list of everything that they were going to do, and honestly most boys wouldn’t do that, so if you don’t stop acting unreasonable, I swear I’m going to divorce you.”

“But Topanga she turned off her phone,” he whined to her mother. “That’s against the rules.”

“Cory there are no rules, except in that thick head of yours,” her mother sighed. “Riley say goodnight to Lucas and fast.”

Her father was being dragged away by his collar, while he whined about the rules that everyone but him swore didn’t exist.

“Goodnight Riley,” Lucas said kissing her quickly. “Go upstairs before your dad fakes a heart attack.”

“Okay,” she said smiling. “Night Lucas.”

She watched him walk away before going upstairs to face the meltdown of the century, well at least one of them. When she walked through the door to see her father pacing back and forth while her mother set a bowl of ice cream in front of Auggie.

“How was your date sweetie,” her mother said but the minute Riley tried to say anything her father made a noise.

‘Fine,’ she thought to herself. ‘Two can play that game.’

“Well let’s see, it started with a picnic in the park, because of course we had to give Maya and Josh something to report, which will all be on dad’s phone,” she said smiling while her mother just looked shocked. “When they were distracted Lucas and I rushed off so that we could make it to the movie without being followed.”

“Cory you were having them followed?” her mother said her eyes wide. “How many times has this happened.”

“This was the…” he started but Riley interrupted.

“It’s been going on since seventh grade, except back then it was just reports on how me and Lucas were talking to one another,” she said before continuing. “Then when we started officially dating it was always double dates, or hanging out with friends because of course everyone was always around… well except on my sixteenth birthday. Lately when we’re actually alone, someone is usually at a nearby café, or a few rows behind us at the movies, and sometimes at a nearby table talking about how much of a coincidence it was that they were there.”

“Cory,” her mother said but Riley held up her hand.

“Dad, I love you but you have to stop, if it wasn’t Lucas, it would be someone else, dating is normal and honestly I would like to go out on more dates that didn’t involve chaperones following me around.”

“Sorry,” he said as he sat down on the couch. “I may worry a little too much.”

“It’s okay, but maybe step back just a little, I don’t mind doubling up or going out with everyone else, but once and a while, I want it to be just me and Lucas. I mean I know you and mom didn’t have grandpa following you around. He trusted you, so maybe you should put a little of that same trust in Lucas.”

“You grandfather trusted me because he was afraid of Shawn, only to tell me that I was the one he should have worried about… but I guess I took his words to heart.”

“My dad loved me,” her mother said. “But he also trusted my judgement and I know you trust Riley’s, Cory… sweetheart it’s time to let go.”

Her father sighed. “Fine, two dates a month alone, other than that you have someone close by, or you hang out at the café or here.”

“Deal,” Riley said smiling.

“And you can’t turn off your phone… ever.”

“I won’t I only did it today because mom told me to, but she didn’t know that I get followed around.”

“I’m still made about that,” her mother said. “Cory, Riley and Lucas are allowed one extra date a month for the next three months for that stunt.”

“Are you reverse grounding me?” he said looking shocked at what was happening. “But I’m an adult.”

“Yes you are and you should act like one,” she said.

Riley sat next to her brother and put some ice cream in a bowl as the two of them watched their parents arguing about being adults.

“So Lucas said we could go to the basketball game, Knicks versus Mavs, can we still go?” Auggie said scooping up some more ice cream into his bowl.

“Yup we have the tickets and we’re going so you better be ready for my epic freak outs,” she said smiling before hugging her brother.

“It’ll be a double date,’ he smiled at her.

“Yes it will be.”


	10. Girl Meets Riley’s Hair

It was a Saturday morning, and Riley had gotten almost no sleep because she had helped close the café the night before only to get home and stay up later than she would normally. She was worried, the SAT’s were coming up, she was filling out applications for colleges, she had homework, and now on this Saturday morning when she could normally sleep in she was woken up by her mother. Auggie and Ava had to work on a school project, her mother had a work emergency, and her father had to go to some teacher’s convention. So it was up to Riley to watch Auggie and Ava, and she knew that falling asleep on the couch had been a bad idea, but it had happened anyway. She had been lulled to sleep by the quiet work the two kids were doing, while Artemis laid at her feet.

It had been a mistake to fall asleep. When Riley woke up her hair was glued to the back of the couch and Auggie and Ava were desperately attempting to free it without ruining her hair or the couch. The couch had already been replaced once, after the fire the year before but this was something else.

“Auggie,” Riley said which only made the ten-year-old start crying.

“I’m sorry Riley,” he sobbed, she could be angry but it was her fault for falling asleep.

“It’s my fault,” Ava said quietly. “We were just playing and it got a little out of control.”

“Come over here you two so you can explain,” she said unable to move her head to look at them. She knew she had to be calm, there was no way around this and she was to stuck to do anything else.

The two of them walked around to the other end of the couch far enough away that she couldn’t reach them but close enough to see them. Riley sighed as she saw the looks of sadness in their eyes because she knew they were sorry for what had happened.

“Speak now,” she said watching them.

“We were working on the project, and Ava spilled the glitter by accident,” Auggie said.

“I said we could use it for something, and I threw a little into his hair because he’s adorable when he sparkles,” Ava said squeezing his hand.

‘Gosh they’re cute’ Riley thought as she watched them.

“Well I said let’s get the extra glue and try to use it on the project, and we were playing around a bit with the glitter and Ava had some confetti and she threw some, so without thinking I threw the first thing I had in my hand… which…” tears started coming down his face.

“He threw the glue because he had grabbed it without thinking, and Riley we’re so sorry, your hair is so pretty and we… and we,” Ava started crying as well.

Riley sighed, she knew that there was a huge mess behind her, especially since they were playing with art supplies. “Come here you two,” she said gesturing for them to sit down next to her.

When they moved, Auggie had put his arm around Ava as they moved together towards the couch. Once they were next to her she pulled them close and gave them a hug.

“It was my fault for falling asleep, so much has been going on that I haven’t slept a lot but that doesn’t excuse the fact that I should have stayed awake,” she said to them. “This doesn’t mean that you’re not in trouble, but for now go grab the scissors so we can free me from the couch.”

“Riley we can’t cut your hair,” Auggie said knowing what she was going to do.

“Augs, I don’t see another way out of this, glue is like gum once it’s in there it’s really in there.”

“But it’s your hair,” he said making her sigh.

“We’re only cutting off enough that I would get free and then once we finish cleaning everything up we’ll go to the hair salon down the street and get it fixed,” she said smiling at her brother. “Hair grows back don’t worry, plus it was getting a little long and Artemis sometimes likes to grab it to play with it so a cut wouldn’t be that bad.”

Ava was the one who stood up and went to get the scissors while her brother just stared. “I’m just going to cut right above where the glue is,” Ava said quietly.

“Okay,” Riley said as she heard the scissors snipping her hair off. She was going to get it cut eventually so why not now.

“Done,” Ava said as Riley rubbed her shoulders free from the couch for the first time.

“Now let’s clean all of this up before mom gets back,” she said grabbing a scrunchie and pulling the ruins of her hair onto a messy bun.

The three of them worked together cleaning up the glitter, which was nearly impossible since the stuff got everywhere and stuck like an evil little dust monster. Once they were done they worked to get Riley’s hair off the couch without ruining it so that her parent’s wouldn’t wonder what had happened. She sent the two kids off to shower so that they could get the glitter off their own body before they went off to the salon. Riley looked at their project and thought that it looked like some abstract representation of her life, sparkly and crazy at the same time… she loved it.

“I’m ready,” Ava said coming in through the door dressed in a pink and black dress with ugg boots on, looking like a little princess. It made Riley smile.

“I’m going to change into some jeans and I’ll be down in a minute, so don’t make a mess,” she said before going to her room and changing as fast as she could fearing another disaster before she could get back downstairs.

They were sitting on the couch with Artemis when she got back downstairs, “Okay,” Auggie said standing up. “Let’s go.”

The three of them walked down the block hand in hand to the nearby salon, there were a few in the neighborhood but this was the one they’ve been going to since they were kids. Auggie and Ava settled into the seats by the front while Riley set up a walk in appointment, explaining what had happened. The woman at the counter looked at her with a small smile like she understood what had happened. Riley also set up a trim for her brother, and for Ava to get her nails done, since they had been good with the clean up as well as for trying their best. Plus, she felt bad that she had fallen asleep on them. Once the stylist was done Riley had short hair, cut all the way to her shoulders. It was a shock to her but she liked it and it felt freeing in a way, she loved long hair, she loved styling it, but this was different and new and it meant that she didn’t have to spend as much time on it in the mornings.

“Looking good little brother,” she said as she saw Auggie. He had trimmed it enough that it wouldn’t cover his eyes, but it was still long enough that his curls were visible.

“My man is adorable,” Ava said hugging Auggie, her nails were all a different color.

“Not as good as my girl,” he said.

“Let’s take a picture to commemorate this moment,” Riley said pulling out her phone and quickly snapping a photo to remember the day.

When they got home her mother was looking around the room smiling at them. “Can you tell me why there’s glitter on the floor?” she asked before turning back and seeing Riley’s hair and how short it was. “Riley sweetie you cut your hair.”

“Yeah,” she said smiling at her mother.

“There was an accident,” Ava blurted out.

“What kind of accident?” her mother said looking between the three of them.

“We cleaned it up so it’s no big deal,” Riley answered.

She looked at them waiting for an explanation until her eyes landed on Auggie and he burst into tears for the second time that day. Riley pulled him into her arms and started rubbing his back.

“Well I fell asleep when I should have been watching them and Auggie accidentally dropped some glue on my hair, but it’s fine we worked it all out and we cleaned it up, no harm no fowl,” Riley said trying to get her brother to stop crying.

“But Riley, sweetie your hair,” her mother said.

“It’s fine, I’ve wanted to cut it for a while now but I’ve been so busy, and its just hair it’ll grow back.”

“Fine, as long as everyone is alright, but you two,” her mother said pointing at Auggie and Ava. “You’re going to help Riley with her chores so that she’s not overwhelmed.”

“Okay,” they said at the same time.

“And Riley, if you’re taking on too much it’s okay to step back for a little bit you know,” she said looking at Riley.

“I know, it’s just the SAT’s they’re a little stressful.”

“I know, but you have to take breaks,” her mother said as she hugged her. “Now go and get some sleep because I know you closed last night.”

“I’m okay now,” she said shrugging. “How about we just hang out and watch a movie?”

“Okay, I don’t feel like cooking anyway, and your father won’t be back until tomorrow. So pizza for dinner,” her mother said smiling. “And what happened today didn’t happen, your father doesn’t have to know.”

“Yay,” Auggie yelled out and Riley smiled.

“Riley invite everyone over and we’ll make it a little party, well at least one where your father won’t chase Lucas out of the house,” her mother smiled.

Her father had actually gotten better at letting them date since the she told them about her knowing about the whole spying incident. But he still had issues with them being alone in the house because he always ran into her room whenever Lucas was studying at her house. It was funny to her because the last time she was on the bed and Lucas was on the floor, with Zay and Cassie on the bay window and her father started his freak out before he had even opened the door. She knew he would never really change but at least he had slowed down on the amount of time he spent freaking out.

Riley sent a quick message to her friends before putting the order for the pizza as well as a mountain of wings. Maya sent a message to her that she was bringing pie and other stuff from the café, Lucas and Zay were bringing wings and Josh was bringing his stomach because college made people poor. Cassie was the first to show up while Riley and Auggie were on the couch, soon after everyone else piled into the apartment and made themselves comfortable around the television. Lucas was the last to show up, only to stop when he saw Riley’s new haircut. His ears turned red and she knew he liked it.

“You look cute,” he said and she felt her face heat up.

“Thanks,” she said kissing him on the cheek.

“Get a room,” Maya yelled out from next to Josh and Riley jumped away from Lucas.

“Don’t tease them, we’re still in trouble for doing what my brother said to do and you know spy on them,” Josh stuttered.

“Yeah well not my fault,” Maya said and Riley looked at her best friend and laughed. She had too many overprotective friends.

“Alright kids, we’re watching what I pick because if Maya picks well she’ll traumatize Auggie,” her mother said.

“Well at least it’s not Riley picking or else we’d have to live through some sappy movie about bunnies,” Maya said and Josh just looked at her.

“Not true,” Zay said smiling. “Last time we went to see a movie and Riley picked we watched a Marvel movie.”

“Oh I remember that day,” Cassie said smiling. “It was Spiderman… by the way I’m still mad you two went to see Thor without me.”

“We were on a date,” Riley said looking at Cassie.

“Yeah well I don’t care you know I love Hemsworth and you left me behind,” she said before looking at Zay’s shocked face. “You already knew this about me Zay so don’t look so shocked, I know about your obsession Zoe Saldana, it’s the reason we saw Guardians four times when it came out.”

“Uh… yeah,” Zay said in defeat. “I guess I’m seeing Thor four times to make up for it.”

“No we’re only seeing it once because we’re high school students and we’re all poor,” she said back at him making Riley smile.

Farkle and Smackle both looked like they were taking notes in their minds, Riley knew they wanted so normal moments but she just smiled at them.

“I love you both as you are so don’t try to be like anyone else,” she said to them before settling down next to Lucas on the floor.

They ended up watching Wonder Woman because her mother hadn’t seen it yet, and by the end they had popped in another movie until everyone had to leave for the night. When Riley had fallen asleep that night she was relaxed for the first time that week and it made her happy.  



	11. Girl Meets the SAT’s

The SAT’s were less than a week away and they had just taken their second practice test, Riley felt good about her work until she had received her score and saw that she had only received an 850.

“What does this mean,” she said to herself as she sat down in the classroom. Everyone else had left for the day but she couldn’t move from that spot.

In the end she walked to the café and sat down with her friends remembering the last time she had gotten such a low score. Everyone was talking about their grades, and when they turned towards her she felt like crying. Instead she stood up and walked out of the room and towards her mother’s office in the back and sat down locking the door before anyone could follow.

“Does anyone know what’s wrong with Riley?” Maya said as she watched Riley walk away, Lucas following her but not saying a word.

“Maybe it has something to do with this?” Farkle said picking up a paper. “It says her practice score was 850.”

“That can’t be right she’s been studying like crazy, her mom helps her every night,” Maya said as she looked at the paper.

“Riley’s pretty smart too so this doesn’t make any sense,” Zay said looking around to see if Lucas was bringing Riley back, but the two of them hadn’t made it back yet.

“Is there anything we can do?” Smackle asked looking around.

“Depends on whether we can get someone to give us Riley’s test so we can check it ourselves,” Farkle said looking over at their teacher.

“You think Matthews would let us see it?” Maya said looking at the paper.

“It never hurts to try,” Zay motioned for them to move towards their teacher.

Mr. Matthews was sitting in a booth with his youngest, and the superintendent of schools who also happened to be a family friend. Maya took the test and walked over there leaving the group behind.

“Matthews,” she said as she sat down in front of him. “We need to see Riley’s practice test, like yesterday.”

“Uh Maya,” Mr. Matthews said to her. Even though he was now technically family because Shawn was her father didn’t mean that she wasn’t going to stop stepping on his toes if something was seriously wrong.

Farkle stood at the end of the booth next to Maya and looked at their teacher. “Mr. Matthews something’s not right, Riley’s score shouldn’t be an 850 she’s been studying every week, her last score was a 1125.”

“What do you mean an 850?” he said taking the paper from Maya. He looked at it cautiously before pulling out the stacks of papers from his students. “I graded hers and to make sure I wasn’t bias I had someone else regrade it. The score she got wasn’t this one, we triple checked it because it was the third highest score below Farkle and Smackle.”

“Let me see the paper,” Mr. Turner said taking the sheet away from Mr. Matthews. “Could it be that the scores got switched somehow? The machine could be faulty.”

Mr. Matthews pulled out Riley’s answer sheet and the test answer grid and looked it over, with Farkle looking over him. Maya didn’t understand what they were looking at but she noticed the numbers on the sheet.

“Hey the numbers don’t match,” she said looking at the paper Riley had dropped. “These are the id numbers right?”

Mr. Matthews took the paper and looked at it. “How did the numbers get mixed up?”

“Who’s numbers are these?” Mr. Turner asked. “It looks like something on her was smudged on Riley’s answer grid. “Give me the identification numbers of all the student’s in the class that took the test.”

“Did someone cheat?” Farkle asked looking between the two men.

“Doesn’t look like it,” Mr. Turner said. “It looks like whoever was sitting in front of Riley was either sweating or had something in their hand that was greasy and the numbers got stuck together.”

“Here it is,” Mr. Matthews said. “Both of them got good scores on their papers but when the machine checked it to send out the results it read them both as wrong, the other person is Yogi, he got an 1170, but his score must have looked differently.”

“What did Riley get?” Maya asked curious.

“Well Smackle and I both got 1400’s so if Riley’s was the third highest then she received something close to that.”

“She got a 1360, Topanga knows her stuff so she would have made sure that Riley knew the material really well,” Mr. Matthews said.

“Topanga is a scary person when it comes to grade,” Mr. Turner said.

“Thanks,” Maya said before getting up. “Is there a way to fix this?”

“Yeah I’ll have the school correct it,” he said before they walked away.

“We should tell Riley,” Farkle said to her. “Remember how she got when she got a D for the first time.”

Lucas sat outside of the office door, not saying a word, he knew that Riley would come out when she was ready even if he didn’t know what was going on. She looked upset, and it hurt when she didn’t ask for help, but he also knew to let her do what she needed to before he tried to intervene. It took another minute before the door opened enough for him to go inside, Riley was crying at the desk in front of him.

“Riley I need to know what’s wrong,” he said walking up to her slowly. She didn’t say a word but he walked around and knelt on the ground in front of her.

“Maybe I don’t have a future in anything,” she said after a moment had passed.

“Riley you have a future in everything,” he said taking her hand.

“But I got an 850 on the test, a test I studied so hard for.”

“Riley it was just a practice test, the real one is in a few days, your score might be completely different. Plus, the score can’t mean everything in the world as long as you have your extracurricular.”

“I don’t think she should worry too much,” Farkle said walking into the room.

“Yeah apparently she’s a genius,” Maya said squeezing in behind Farkle. “We checked with your dad, and apparently you got the third top score in the class.”

“That’s not what the paper said.”

“Well apparently the paper was wrong,” Farkle said sitting on the desk. “Apparently your test and Yogi’s were compromised, but it’s being fixed.”

Riley looked at them like they had grown a third head, and Lucas almost laughed. “See you have a future,” he said.

“Okay,” she said but he still knew that it had rattled her.

“Come on I’ll take you home,” he said smiling at Farkle and Maya who nodded at him before letting them go.

Lucas took her home and watched a movie with her, letting her relax next to her. He knew she was going to be alright but the near miss rattled her, and made her believe that her future was hanging in the balance. When she had fallen asleep he carried her to bed and tucked her in before leaving. Riley’s parent’s understood that she had been rattled and didn’t complain that he had been there all along.

\---------

The day of the test Riley knew she was going to be fine, after the near miss from earlier in the week she took to relaxing with either Lucas, or Auggie. They watched movies, and ate macaroni and cheese. Comfort food was always good when you’re trying to find your center.

She took the test, and when it was over she personally handed in her paper and walked away. Instead of going straight home she walked over to the park and sat there, she didn’t know why she let a practice test get to her. Yet in some ways she did. It was her insecurities coming back, they never went away. She needed to know who she was, and where she was going, and somehow the practice test gave her something to question.

Sighing she watched the leaves blowing in the wind trying to find her place in the world. Did she want to write for a fashion magazine? Did she want to shape young minds like her father, or save the world like her mother? Just weeks before the end of the year and months before graduation she didn’t know what she wanted. How people figured out their lives before college was beyond her.

“You know you don’t have to sit in the cold,” a voice said next to her. “Sometimes it’s good to think where it’s warm.”

She turned to see her Uncle John looking at her. “I guess I just like the feel of the wind on my face Uncle John.”

“Yeah well, it feels especially nice on a motorcycle, but that’s just me,” he said smiling at her. “I’m guessing your confused, not sure of where you want to go in the future.”

“How did you know?”

“I had the same feeling after my accident, saw it in my students as they got ready to go off to college, it’s normal. Riley no one knows what they want from their future, college in a way is there to help you find out what you want to do for the rest of your life.”

“Is that really true or just some pretty words you tell everyone?”

“Nah, it’s actually true, I mean you could ask your parents how they felt those first few years, or your Uncle Josh who’s in college right now, you can talk to anyone but I know you’re listening to me on this.”

“I am, it’s just really hard to think about it.”

“You have the first two years to think about, take some class in everything that interest you and see where you want to end up,” he said to her. “I heard that you’re a pretty good writer, maybe that’s a start.”

She smiled at him. “Thanks Uncle John.”

“No problem, now I have to go home to my family, but if you ever need to talk, just call or email me, I’ll answer.”

“Yeah you and probably fifty other people I’m close to, but this helps. It gives me something to think about.”

Riley hugged him before he walked off, smiling when she noticed that not too far from where she had been sitting was Lucas waiting for her.

“Hi,” she said smiling at him.

“I guess he beat me to it,” Lucas said smiling back.

“Yeah well he’s family, but thanks for coming here.”

“Yeah well,” he mirrored what she said. “I have to make sure you’re alright.”

“I am, and I will be, it’s just a lot to think about especially when I’m not sure of who I want to be, I could write but what difference can I make writing?”

“That depends on what you tell your readers, or even any of us, I mean I’ve wanted to be a veterinarian since I was a kid but sometimes I think that maybe that’s not where I’m needed. We have some time I guess.”

“Yeah,” she smiled. “For now I guess I’ll just live in the moment and maybe I’ll find out what I want somewhere in the middle.”

He pulled her to his side and they started walking, “That sounds perfect to me.”


	12. Girl Meets Family Secret

Maya had her feet on Josh’s lap watching the movie on the tv, while Riley and Lucas cooked dinner in the next room. It had become a tradition for them to have one date night together, once a month whenever they had the time. The reason was because they all rarely hung out, and after the whole spying thing, Riley had made it her prerogative to make sure that if the two of them were going to spy they might as well do it in the same room. Although Riley’s father had backed down after the truth had come out, but it was still nice.

This week it was dinner and a movie at home, Riley had gotten into this kick where she wanted to cook homecooked meals because once they got into college it would be a rare just for them to come home and eat with their family. Maya wasn’t sure where it was that Riley was planning on going to college, but she wanted to make sure that they all spent as much time together as possible. So, these moments were what they had and Maya hadn’t minded the togetherness since it seemed as though her mother and Shawn were going through something.

Josh was rubbing her feet which felt nice since she had spent all morning working at the café and her feet were killing her.

“You know those two are in their own little world,” Josh said looking at Riley and Lucas moving around the kitchen like they did it all of the time.

“They’re practically married the way they’re doing that,” she said smiling.

Josh let out a loud laugh. “Don’t tell that to Cory,” he said smiling before his face turned serious. “I know something is bothering you.”

“How can you tell?” she asked him as she suddenly became interested in how her hands look.

“Well you’re deflecting, making them important, not talking as much as you normally would, and usually by now you’d make fifty comments about how we could be watching something else and not some romcom that Riley would pick.”

She sighed before looking up at him. “Well things haven’t been exactly normal at home… I mean my mom and Shawn were fighting the other night but it was about something so ridiculous and I start feeling like this is where the cracks start to show and everything… everything falls apart.”

“Did you ever think to ask them instead of staying on the sidelines?” he said squeezing her foot to reassure her that he wasn’t going anywhere.

“Can you walk me home?” she said taking his hand in hers and holding onto it like it’s all that mattered.

“Yeah, but shouldn’t we eat first?” he said looking over at the duo in the kitchen.

“Hey Riles,” Maya called out to her best friend.

“Yes Peaches,” Riley said smiling.

“We’re going to my house for a bit but we’ll be back if that’s alright.”

“Is everything alright? Do you need me to go with you?”

“I just need to do something, Josh is taking me, but we’ll be back in an hour,” Maya said smiling. Riley would drop everything to make sure that everything was alright with her because Maya would do the same, but this was something she needed to do alone. Well not that alone since Josh was going with her.

“Okay, the food will be done by then, and it gives me a chance at making apple pie to go with the ice cream.”

Maya couldn’t help but smile, Riley was making comfort food, ever since the whole SAT debacle she had gotten into these moods where comfort food was needed at least once a week. Today was that day for Maya and she was glad that she had Riley there to make her happy.

Josh walked them out waving a quick goodbye at Riley and Lucas who were now pealing apples at the table. They walked towards her place in silence, Josh holding her hand as a way of comforting her. He left her to her thoughts, her family wasn’t going to fall apart even if her parents were arguing about food shopping, or something that’s equally stupid. She remembered the conversation had to do with Shawn forgetting something from the supermarket, but in Maya’s head it all just sounded equally ridiculous.

Once they were outside of her apartment she wasn’t sure if the confrontation was a very good idea at all but she had made it this far so she couldn’t turn back now. Josh pulled her hand to his mouth and gave it small kiss before pulling her inside of the building and into the apartment.

Shawn and her mother were sitting on the couch cuddling next to one another while watching some random movie on the screen. Maya wasn’t sure because she was confused by how close the two of them were to one another without arguing.

“Hey Maya,” her mother said smiling at her. “I thought you were hanging out with Riley today?”

“We just came here to get something,” Josh said without missing a beat.

“No,” Maya said looking at them. “I came here to find out what’s been going on with the two of you the last couple of weeks. Two days ago, you were fighting over Shawn missing something off of the shopping list. Last week you had a fight over what? I don’t really know the noise was muffled and the walls are freaking thin here so that was a miracle.”

“Oh so you heard all of that?” Shawn said and Maya was almost sure that the man was blushing.

“Ew, wait… ew,” Maya said wanting to crawl into a hole.

“No Maya it’s not what you think,” her mother sighed. “We were waiting to tell you.”

“What that you’re divorcing?”

“No… that… well that you were going to be a big sister,” Shawn said smiling at her.

Maya could swear that her brain had shorted out. “Wait… what? WHAT?”

“The fight the other day was because I was having a craving and Shawn had gotten everything except I forgot to add something to the list and thought he had forgotten about it,” her mother said smiling.

“The fight last week was over the fact that we need to move because we needed the extra room, but then your grandmother said that she could move into a retirement home, but I don’t want that so we were arguing over where we would move to,” Shawn said.

“What,” Maya was in shock so Josh started rubbing her shoulders.

“I think you broke her,” Josh said looking at the older couple.

Maya started crying all of a sudden, she turned into Josh’s chest and cried into his arms.

“My baby girl is in shock,” her mother said before standing up and pulling Maya into her arms.

“I’m… going… to be… a sister,” she hiccupped through each word trying to regain control of her senses. “I was afraid you and Shawn were going to separate.”

“Nah, it’s just that your mom’s hormones are all over the place, but I’m trying my best to understand them,” Shawn said smiling before hugging the two of them.

“We’re a forever family,” her mother said kissing her on the head. “We were just waiting until I was closer to my fourth month before announcing it, because it’s bad luck.”

“I told her it was just an old wives tale but she doesn’t want to listen to me,” he said pulling away. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” Maya said smiling.

“Good now get out and have some fun with your friends, that way we can keep watching the movie without you making some random comments,” Shawn said making her laugh.

“We’ll celebrate later,” her mother said smiling.

“Okay,” she said as they walked out the door.

“Don’t tell anyone,” her mother said. “We’re planning a party to announce the baby so we don’t want to spoil the surprise.”

“Okay,’ Maya smiled. “I love you guys.”

“We love you too, now go get,” Shawn said before her mother cuddled back onto his side.

Maya and Josh made it down the street before he stopped her and started cleaning her face.

“Can’t have Riley seeing you like this,” he said wiping away the remnants of the tears. “We have to keep the secret for them.”

“Yeah, they deserve to announce it when and how they want,” she said to him before taking his hand in hers. “Thank you, Josh.”

“That’s what boyfriends are for,” he said before giving her a quick kiss. “Now let’s get back to my brother’s house and have dinner before Riley gets suspicious.”

They made it back in time for dinner, Maya and Josh kept the secret until a week later when her mom announced the pregnancy to everyone while they ate thanksgiving dinner. Riley had made the pies that day, and her mother wanted them all, she made requests. Which made Maya happy because she was going to be a big sister, but also because Josh had been the one to calm her down. It felt as if they were falling into a rhythm and it was nice.


	13. Girl Meets A Christmas Wish

It was the best thing that could have happened on her seventieth birthday, as she stood on the roof of the apartment building long after everyone had left the party. Riley was looking up at the skyscrapers and in the distance, a shooting star fell in the background. She made a wish that the rest of the year would be happy time and that secret Santa that year would be the best one yet. It was their last secret Santa they would have in high school and she wanted it to be something really special.

That was her wish, until everything started to go wrong, first it started when no one was at the café when she had the box ready. She worked that night because the person who normally closed had to leave on an emergency. She wanted to cry but somehow it only hurt because they had all forgotten to come to pick out names. It wasn’t about buying presents as much as it was about being together, and them forgetting hurt more than anything else. Working alone on a Thursday was hard enough, but none of her friends had come to visit at all. Sighing she had closed up the café and walked home with her box, and thoughts that tomorrow would be another day.

Except the next day she had gotten the flu from being out in the cold the night before and was stuck in bed. The doctor had told them that she had a very contagious strain and so everyone was told to stay away from the house. Her mother gave her food while wearing a mask and she ended up confined to her room for the next week.

The secret Santa box was thrown into her closet, because there would be no point in doing it when she couldn’t get everyone to pick. She kept her phone off because the light hurt her eyes, and since no one could visit it was just easier to ignore. By the time she was well enough to go back to school it had been too late. The holiday break was well underway and she couldn’t ask her friends to step away from their families in order to run around the city in order to make secret Santa happen.

\-------

Lucas knew that Riley wanted to do secret Santa, and when she had gotten sick he asked Mrs. Matthews to sneak the box out of the house so they could pick the names. He couldn’t help but smile at how she had made personalized envelopes for the name cards for each person or how the box had been decorated in red glitter paper with a silver bow on top.

“This is so Riley,” he smiled as he placed it in the middle of the table they normally shared.

The day that Riley had picked for them to choose the names from the box, they had all been stuck doing other things. Lucas and Zay had a late practice, Cassie had to take care of her brothers, Smackle and Farkle were out of town for a science competition and Maya had gone with her parents to see the baby’s first sonogram. They had all tried to make it to the café, but once they had gotten there it was closed and they had all felt bad for missing it.

So when they found out that Riley had gotten sick the next day, they were equally miserable because they knew it was something she looked forward to every year. That was when Lucas devised a plan, to sneak the box out and have everyone draw names so that when Riley was better they could exchange gifts. It was their gift to her.

“So everyone has to pick but no one can tell anyone who they got,” Zay said as they looked at the box.

“I’m so excited, I never got the chance to do this before with so many friends,” Cassie said bouncing in her chair.

“This is the first time I’m doing it too, mainly because I’m family so we usually exchange presents as family, but this is actually nice because I’ve gotten to know all of you throughout the years,” Josh smiled at them his hand entwined with Maya’s who was smiling at her friends.

“Riley’s going to love it,” she said. “We pulled her name out right?”

“No because it wouldn’t be even if we did,” Lucas said to her.

“So what happens it one of us doesn’t get picked because Riley isn’t here,” Smackle said.

“I’ll draw two names,” Lucas offered, honestly he wanted to get Riley because he wanted to give her something special and because they did secret Santa he couldn’t spoil her normally. She was constantly spoiling him and he just wanted to get that chance.

“Friar wants Riley,” Maya blurted out. “I bet he already got her a present and everything.”

“Maya,” he said glaring at her.

“Oh please I could see it in your eyes, so just take her name out and give it to him already,” she said to him before sticking out her tongue.

“I’ll second that,” Josh said. “I mean this was his idea so why not.”

“There now the rest of us can pick without worry and he’ll just get the last one,” she said handing over the box to each person.

They all picked and opened up their envelopes, Lucas got Riley regardless which made him happy because he actually chose her and not how Maya wanted it to happen. He drew the second name from the box and they all set out to buy the presents throughout the week. Keeping the tradition of not telling anyone who got who. Lucas had found a Santa bag and placed it in the café for them to put the present in when no one else was around so that when the time came they could all open presents together.

\--------

Riley was sitting in her room watching a YouTube video on her computer when Maya climbed in through the bay window.

“Peaches,” Riley smiled at her best friend.

“Hey Riles,” Maya smiled. “Come on and get your ugly Christmas sweater so we can go to the café and get some coffee and celebrate that school is out for the rest of the year.”

Riley sighed before getting up. “I don’t want to wear it, because I only wear it during secret Santa.”

“Come on Riles you love that sweater, just wear it,” Maya said push the sweater towards her, and even pulling out the top hat while giving her puppy dog eyes.

“Fine,” she smiled, she knew she couldn’t resist Maya’s puppy eyes.

Riley put on her Christmas sweater, and her top hat, grabbing a present she had picked out for Lucas because she had thought that it was perfect. Even though they weren’t doing secret santa she wanted to go over to his house and give it to him. Then she walked out of the apartment with Maya who was smiling as she pulled Riley forward.

“So Josh is taking me to a party on New Year’s, and we were talking about inviting everyone,” she said as they walked.

“That’s cool, but we’re going to the ski lodge remember, unless the party is at the lodge you’re going to have a hard time going to a party,” Riley said remembering how her parents planned a ski weekend for New Years.

“Damn,” Maya said stopping. “I forgot about that.”

“How could you, they’ve been talking about it nonstop especially since everyone is coming.”

“I know but it’s been a little hectic the last couple of weeks.”

Riley didn’t say anything, because it reminded her of the night that they had all forgotten about secret Santa. Instead she kept walking, smiling like nothing was wrong. She was surprised when she walked into the café and saw everyone wearing Christmas sweaters, even Maya who had taken off her coat to show a sweater with Mrs. Claus on it.

“Surprise,” she said looking at her.

“We thought that we should have secret santa as a surprise for you,” Farkle said wearing a green sweater with Christmas lights on it that linked to Smackle’s sweater. It was adorable.

Josh was wearing a Mr. Claus sweater matching Maya’s, while Cassie and Zay were wearing ones with matching reindeer that said you light up my life. When Riley looked at Lucas she noticed that he had found one that matched hers. She blushed looking at him with a top hat to match hers.

“We’ll open presents and then we’re going to see the tree,” Lucas said smiling.

“We’re going to partake in new traditions,” Smackle said as she hugged Riley.

“Let’s get to the presents,” Zay said before pulling the girls apart.

Riley sat there as Lucas pulled out the bag full of presents and placed it on the table. He smiled at her and took her hand as Maya and Josh started handing out presents.

“Everyone put the presents here when no one else was looking,” he said to her. “We wanted it to be a surprise.”

She smiled at her friends, they were truly as close as family to her. Josh pulled out the last present and handed it to her before winking.

“Okay who’s first?” Josh asked before everyone tore into their presents. Riley held herself back as she watched everyone pull out something different.

Maya got a new personalized sketchbook from Farkle who wanted her to keep drawing the moments of their lives, and Farkle got a beanie from Zay that had been made by him which was sweet. Zay got a used ukulele from Josh who told him that it would be fun for him to learn and send the songs to his grandmother.

“Aww,” she said watching them.

Josh had gotten a painting from Maya of the New York sky, except with a million stars in the sky, for his dorm room. Cassie had given Smackle a handmade frame with a picture of just the girls of the group, because friendships were important and Cassie had learned to appreciate the ones she shared with the girls. Cassie had gotten a spa kit from Smackle because he saw how hard she worked when it came to taking care of her family.

It had taken Riley a moment to realize that Lucas hadn’t gotten a present and she looked over at him wondering why.

“My present is this,” he said smiling. “I just wanted to see you happy.”

“I brought you a present,” Riley blurted out as she pulled it out of her pocket.

“Riley you didn’t have to,” he said looking at her.

“I brought it before my birthday, I don’t know why but I just knew that I had to buy it for you,” she said before handing him the present. “Open it.”

“Yeah Ranger Rick open it,” Maya said making Lucas laugh.

He opened it to reveal an old pocket watch, on the back it said I love you to the moon and back, because she really does love him more than anything. Especially if he would do something like this for her, he laughed when he saw it.

“Open yours,” he said smiling at her.

When she opened it she saw an old locket that said the same thing. “How?” she said looking at him.

“It looks like fate wanted us to have this moment,” he said smiling at her.

All of a sudden, the wish she had made the day of her birthday had come true, it was a moment that she wanted, where all of her friends were smiling and happy, where the rest of the year would mean that they were all going to have something special and good.

“This is the best time to be a Riley,” she said before pulling Lucas into a hug and giving him a quick kiss on the lips.


	14. Girl Meets Childhood Memories

It was the night before they left for their vacation and everyone was sleeping over at the Matthews house. The guys were all going to sleep in the living room, while the girls slept in Riley’s room. They were going to spend New Year’s at a ski resort, although not the same one from freshman year, because her mother told them no to that.

“So what should we do until we all fall asleep, because it’s still early right now,” Maya said as she sat down on the bay window. Josh sitting next to her while Riley sat on the other side with Lucas at her feet, his head on her lap while she ran her fingers through his hair.

“Oh I know,” Zay said standing up. “What about we each say what was our most embarrassing childhood memory, or better yet have someone else pick it for us.”

“Zay how would that work if the only person you’ve known from childhood is me,” Lucas said before he smiled. “Wait I take it back I want to tell you about Zay’s most embarrassing childhood moment.”

“Why did I have to open my big mouth,” Zay said before face planting onto Riley’s bed making her laugh.

“Okay so when Zay was six, his grandmother baked a batch of cookies for the annual fair that happens in town. She was going to sell them,” Lucas started.

“Oh is this why he only gets one cookie,” Riley said smiling down at Lucas.

“It’s a part of the reason,” Zay said interrupting them.

“No, it’s one hundred percent the reason, you see Zay over here loves his grandmother’s cookies so much that he gorged himself on them, and when I say gorged he dipped them in milk and ate fifty out of one of the boxes, and then promptly began to throw up on all of the other batches of cookies. His grandmother was livid and they had to take him to the hospital because he accidentally poured an entire bottle of vanilla extract into his milk but he had thought that the cookies were the reason for all of the flavor and kept eating them. They had to pump his stomach because he had eaten so much.”

“I thought I would hate the cookies after that but grandma made me another batch a few weeks later and started the one cookie tradition soon after that,” Zay said smiling. “I love my grandmother very very much.”

“We know, and we’re glad you have her in your life,” Riley said smiling. “Oh can I be next?”

“Go ahead, but who are you going to talk about?” Josh said but the smile on Riley’s face made him want to get up and leave.

“I actually have a story about the first time Maya and Josh met,” she said bouncing up and down.

“No,” Maya said looking at her.

“Yes,” Riley said before looking at everyone else. “The reason they both hate this story is because they had wanted to forget, but I remember it like it was yesterday, because Josh had been visiting while my grandparents went on a second honeymoon. Maya had been curious about what it meant, only to force Josh to marry her right then and there and reenact the honeymoon. Josh was ten at the time and Maya had just turned eight.”

“I remember this,” Farkle said from across the room. “I was in the park when the two of them were walking around hand in hand.”

“Yeah, except when we got home she had made him carry her over the threshold and Josh tripped making Maya fly into the cake my mom had just finished making.”

“Okay that’s enough,” Maya said trying to stop her from going on.

“And when Maya got up she asked Josh if he wanted to share some of the cake, and he said yes thinking she was going to hand him the plate, and she rubbed her face on him instead.”

“End of story,” Maya said looking at her with a death glare.

“Fine you party pooper,” Riley said pouting.

“You want to play it like that,” Maya said looking at Riley. “Fine, let me tell you guys about the first time Riley got her period.”

“Maya,” Riley yelled. “That’s private.”

“Doesn’t matter, it’s about the most embarrassing memory,” she said looking at Riley and daring her to say anything else about the day Maya and Josh had played a married couple.

“I want to know,” Smackle said interested in what was happening.

“Of course Smackle wants to know,” Riley said throwing her hands in the air.

“I’ll tell you,” Maya said a smile on her face telling Riley that the story was going to happen regardless of what she said.

“Fine Maya but remember, I’ll get you,” Riley said as attempted to threaten as best she could.

“I’ll be waiting,” Maya said before turning to the rest of the group. “So it was a month before the end of sixth grade, and Riley is at home hiding in the closet, she didn’t know what was happening and so she kept changing her clothes in an attempt to hide it because she hoped it would go away… she thought it was a cut.”

“Please Maya stop,” Riley said but Maya continued.

“Her mother comes into the room as I climb in through the bay window, asking why Riley has so much laundry in the basket when her clothes had just been washed and when her mother notices what’s going on she has to pull Riley out of the closet to explain it all… but the most embarrassing part isn’t hers but her father’s, you see once Matthews found out he tripped going down the stairs just to get her those tween pads they sell at the store and had to get like four stitches on his forehead because he freaked out that she was becoming a woman, but he also wanted to make sure that she was taken care of.”

“He had a concussion from that fall,” Riley said remembering it like it had just happened. “I got chocolate and ice cream after I freaked out from him falling, but he had to stay in the hospital that night and I had been so scared that I had killed him that I stayed with him.”

“That man is not cut out to have children,” Farkle said hiding a laugh. “At least not girls because he’s not this bad with Auggie.”

“That’s because once they have a second child families tend to be more centered,” Smackle says.

“Anyone else want to share something embarrassing?” Riley said looking at her friends.

“I have one, but it’s not embarrassing as it is about me saying thank you,” Zay said looking at his friends. “Thank you all for being my friends.”

“Aww,” Maya and Riley say at the same time.

“Wait I want to hear about Lucas as a kid,” Farkle said looking at them. “He’s too perfect I want something that will change that.”

“Farkle I’m not perfect and you know it,” Lucas said while Riley ran her fingers through his scalp.

“Yeah, don’t lie to us,” Smackle said looking him in the eye.

“Fine, okay the first time I rode a horse, it jumped and I landed in a pile of horse poop,” Lucas said trying to deflect.

“Oh I remember that, it was the day your Pappy Joe wanted to take us out for ice cream, except you landed in the poop, and broke your leg,” Zay said looking at him. “It was funny to me, but Pappy Joe was talking about something that day.”

“Yeah he was telling me about how important it was that I learn to control my temper,” Lucas said with a sad look on his face. “It didn’t stick very well now did it.”

“No,” Zay said looking sad. “We kind of let him down after that.”

“Maybe we can go for a visit,” Riley said smiling.

“I don’t know Riley the last time we went down to Texas,” Farkle started but Riley put her hand up to stop him.

“Texas can’t be a bad memory anymore, we have to make it a good memory too,” she said looking at her friends.

They all nodded, even Smackle, Cassie and Josh who didn’t really know everything that Texas stood for when it came to Riley and Lucas. She wanted to change those memories for them all, and make some new ones as well.

Later that night when everyone was asleep Riley snuck into the kitchen so get some water only to wake Lucas. He walked over to her smiling and gave her a hug.

“You don’t have to go to Texas if it makes you uncomfortable,” he said to her.

“It’s not… well it’s not uncomfortable anymore, and I want to see Pappy Joe again, maybe get to know him a little better,” she said to him giving him a quick kiss on the lips. “Maybe some happy memories with our friends is all we need.”

“Well let’s make some happy memories this weekend as well,” he said smiling.

“Walking in the snow together drinking hot cider,” she said smiling. “Making a snow man, and sledding down a hill.”

“All I need is you there,” he said smiling.

“That’s perfect.”  



	15. Girl Meets a Single Moment

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was originally written as a two-parter, but I'm posting it as a whole here.

Riley couldn’t figure out how she got there, it was supposed to be a normal trip with friends and family. Except she was at the bottom of a ditch and her head hurt, and she’s pretty sure she broke her leg.

“Now I understand why dad hates skiing,” she said to no one in particular.

It had started snowing again and she was afraid that no one would find her. All she wanted to do was go for a walk while everyone else skied, she was walking down one of the paths and sat down to watch the snow fall. She tripped on the way back lodge and fell down a hill, only to find herself hurt and her phone broken.

\------ Ten Hours Earlier ------ 

“Come on kids’ time to get up,” she heard her mother said and Maya rolled onto her.

Maya started throwing her hands in the air making Riley giggle before she rolled off and climbed off the bed. The girls all stood in the bathroom getting ready one by one, at six in the morning it was a lot of work when they were all half asleep. The guys were already dressed when they made their way downstairs. Since there were so many of them going on the trip Farkle’s father had chartered a bus for them all to ride up to the lodge. His parents were coming along but they had to go to a function the night before so they were going to meet them on the bus.

“Why are we awake so early,” Maya said before she sat down on the couch next to Smackle who was reading a book. “How are you not tired?”

“I wake up at this time every day,” Smackle answered.

Maya groaned before Lucas walked into the apartment carrying cups of coffee, with his dad and Zay behind him with bags of food and drinks.

“Breakfast is here,” her father said as he closed the door.

“Give me coffee,” Maya said glaring at Lucas.

They sat in silence as they ate, Riley ignored the coffee just so she could nap on the way to the resort. Everyone walked outside once they were done and waited until the bus pulled up. Riley yawned and Lucas just smiled at her like he knew that she wanted to fall asleep next to him.

“So Riley is sitting next to me,” her father said before Riley turned to him giving him the death glare. “Uh fine, you can sit next to him.”

“Come on Cory,” her mother said pulling him away. “We’re going to sit together… towards the front of the bus, away from a rowdy group of teenagers.”

“We’re not rowdy,” Maya said looking at them.

“Maya you just drank three cups of coffee, you’re going to be rowdy,” Shawn said walking over to them. “Now on the bus you all go.”

Lucas walked them to the farthest seats at the back of the bus, everyone else sat towards the middle or the front excited for the trip.

“I know you didn’t drink the coffee just so we could cuddle and sleep,” he said smiling at her.

“Well it reminds me of how we spent the trip back from the ski lodge the first time,” she said smiling.

“Riley that’s because you had been awake for two days straight and needed to get some sleep.”

“Yeah well it was still sweet.”

“Yes it was,” he said pulling a blanket over them. “Get some sleep, I’ll wake you up when we get there.”

“Okay,” she said snuggling herself up next to him. Lucas gave her a kiss on her forehead and rubbed her arm until it lulled her to sleep.

The trip to the ski lodge was four hours upstate, it wasn’t the Mount Sun Lodge, it was somewhere new without all of the memories that her parents had from years before. This was somewhere new where they could all make memories. Riley dreamt of long walks in the snow with Lucas, and building snowmen with Auggie and Ava, she dreamed of a night under the stars and hot cocoa with her friends. Most of all she wanted to find something that would commemorate the moment just like the last time.

\----------

They hadn’t known that she had left, she just wanted to go for a walk, Lucas said that he was going to surprise her with something. It sounded like something out of a movie, and she was excited about it, but he wanted to ski first and she hadn’t wanted to chance it because she was afraid of getting hurt. So she went for a walk, but the world wanted to torture her.

“Somebody help me,” she screamed out.

\----------

It was lunch time by the time they had reached the resort, they all had lunch before they got to their rooms, Riley was given her own room on the other side of the resort. Her father didn’t want her anywhere near Lucas, so her parents’ room was next to Lucas’s room. While Riley’s room was next to Josh, Farkle and his parents, Maya shared the suite along with Smackle and Cassie.

“My dad is crazy,” Riley said sitting on the couch in the sitting room.

“That he is,” Cassie said sitting next to her. “It’s almost as if he thinks you and Lucas are going to do something crazy.”

“He thinks they’re going to have sex,” Smackle said.

“She’s not wrong about that,” Maya said looking at her. “Not that Riley would do something like that before marriage.”

“Maya,” Riley yelled out.

“Yeah well we’re all thinking it, so it doesn’t matter, we’re all in relationships Riles, eventually it’s going to happen,” Maya said to her smiling.

“Can we not talk about this,” Riley said before getting up and going to her room her face flushing from the conversation they were having.

She wasn’t sure about sex, she knew that she wanted to wait, and yes maybe it won’t happen until she got married but it shouldn’t matter what they thought. She sighed as she walked through the door only to hear her phone beeping, to the sound of a cowboy, it was Lucas, she had put different ringtones for all of her friends, but his was something they had picked together.

_Dinner, you and me tonight?_

She smiled at the message, _how are we going to have dinner if my dad is keeping us apart?_

Her phone beeped, _don’t worry it’s out in the open they’ll see where we are._

Her phone went off again before she could reply, _Plus I have someone on my side._

 _Who’s that?_ she replied.

_Your mom, your brother and Ava._

Riley laughed at the message, her father could try to keep them apart but in the end she had allies, and her mother thought her father was being too overprotective especially now that she was graduating from high school.

 _Okay_ , she replied smiling. She dialed Lucas’s number on her phone and waited for him to pick up.

“Hello,” he said she could hear the smile on his voice.

“Hi,” she said before laying down on the bed. “So does it feel like we’re some weird version of Romeo and Juliet?”

“Somedays, your dad has Maya’s parents near me, I’m bunking with Zay but it’s still kind of weird,” he said.

“So you want to have dinner?”

“Yes, but how?”

“The hotel has this sunroom, where you can see the stars, we’re having dinner there.”

“Sounds romantic.”

“The rest of the details are a secret, a surprise.”

“As long as it’s under the stars, like the first day we became a couple it will be perfect.”

“Okay, I’m going to ski for a while do you want to come with me?”

“Nope,” she said. “I’m going to go to the spa and maybe take a walk in the snow.”

“Okay, just be back by six for dinner.”

“Under the stars,” she said smiling.

They hung up, leaving Riley to her thoughts, when she walked back outside there was a note on table. The girls had gone skiing as well, she was the only one who wasn’t going to take the chance and go skiing. She didn’t really care, as long as everyone was having fun it was going to be alright.

Riley spent sometime in the spa getting her nails done, and a facial just for fun before going out on a walk. The flurries were lightly coming down around her, she walked towards the path that led towards the lake, it should be iced over but Riley just wanted to see how the snow looked on the trees. It looked almost magical, unlike in the city where the snow melted too fast, or turned black because there were so many cars. She stood there and looked out at the wonderland in front of her.

That was the reason why she hadn’t seen the root of the tree on the ground, it was the reason why she tripped over it. Her foot hit the root, making her tumble forward down the nearby hill and into the bank of snow at the bottom. Somewhere down the hill she cut her head, her leg twisted in an odd angle and hurt like the dickens.

And she was alone.

\------------

“That was a lot of fun,” Maya said smiling at them as they walked through the doors.

Lucas looked at his friend but felt like that there was one thing missing from it all, and that was Riley. He needed to get ready for their dinner, he had asked Farkle for help when the trip had been proposed because he knew that there was no way that he would be able to find a room like that anywhere.

The sun room was actually a part of a green house filled with flowers so he thought that it would be perfect for dinner, even if it was just a plain picnic but him and Riley never really cared about going to big fancy restaurants, their dates were always something that they would both enjoy.

“Hey have you guys seen Riley?” Mr. Matthews said walking towards them.

“No not since we left to go skiing,” Maya answered. “We left her in the room, and she wouldn’t go skiing anyway because you scared her for life.”

“She’s not in her room,” he said looking around at the teenagers. “The front desk told me she went out over an hour ago.”

“She told me that she was going to go to the spa, and then for a walk,” Lucas said looking at his girlfriend’s father.

“It’s started snowing again a while ago and they’re talking about it being a really bad storm,” Farkle said looking at them.

“We’ll have the front desk call the patrol unit to see if they can find her, but it’s getting dark out there,” Mr. Matthews said but Lucas’s ears felt as though they were being filled with water.

Everyone around him kept talking but he couldn’t hear a thing all he could think about was the fact that Riley was out there alone in the dark. He didn’t know what to do, every instinct told him to run out there and look for her. Zay’s hand was on him before he could move forward, everyone was looking at him worried because of Riley but also because they knew how he would react. They pulled him towards a couch and sat him down so they could talk, her parents, her brother, their friends, it was a second family to him and without Riley his heart wouldn’t be the same.

\------------

Lucas had been pacing back and forth for over an hour, it was already dark outside and the snow was falling harder than it was when they had walked into the resort. He kept checking his phone hoping that Riley would call him. He dialed her number for what felt like the millionth time but the phone kept ringing over and over.

“Come on Riley,” he said quietly. “Please pick up the phone.”

There was silence on the other side of the line, and he thought that the voicemail would pick up but then he heard her breathing.

“Lucas,” she whispered to him. “It’s cold, and I can’t move.”

“Riley,” he almost shouted. “Where are you?”

“I don’t know I hurt my head,” she said while everyone surrounded him. Her parents looked hopeful, while everyone else had worried looks in their eyes.

“Don’t worry, someone will find you,” he said but his heart felt like it was breaking.

“Lucas, I love you,” she said before the line cut off.

“Riley,” he yelled at his phone. “No… no… please no,” he called again and again but the line was dead. He threw his phone across the room and walked outside grabbing his coat as he went only to started pacing once he got outside. He couldn’t even look anyone in the eye, but he could feel the anxiety pulling at his heart.

“They’re going to find her,” Zay said walking out into the cold, handing him his scarf, hat and gloves. “There’s no point in you suffering like this.”

“Zay I was going to ask Riley stay with me even after we get into college, it wasn’t a marriage proposal, but more of a promise to keep taking everything one day at a time, I wanted us to take this huge leap together because she’s the only one who has ever really loved me like this, she’s given me so much but… also because without her I don’t know where I would be.”

“That’s something huge,” Zay said looking Lucas in the eye. “Lucas I know you love her, and to Riley promises are everything but you’ll get that chance don’t worry.”

“I know but I wanted to give her the option, I want it to be her choice no matter what,” he said before kneeling on the ground. “Zay it hurts just to think that she’s out there by herself.”

“Well you know Riley, in this type of place she wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to make a snowman, look at the trees, find somewhere to skate…” Lucas looked up at Zay as if he had given him the answer to everything. “What, Lucas what are you thinking? You’re scaring me man.”

“I’m going to look for her, please just give me a ten-minute head start,” Lucas said.

“You’re crazy,” Zay said looking at him. “You can’t go out in this, I can’t explain that to your parents, to her parents, everyone here cares about you and if you get hurt they’ll be angry at me for letting you go.”

“Please Zay… just please.”

“Fine, I’ll wait out here for five minutes before going inside, but you better come back alive or I’m going to find a way to bring you back just to kick your freaking behind.”

Lucas nodded and grabbed Zay’s hat and scarf before taking off into the night, the snow was heavy but for some reason he knew where Riley had headed off towards so there was a chance that he could find her. He knew five minutes had passed when his phone started going off, everyone was calling him and most likely calling him an idiot but he had to find her.

 _Love makes people do crazy things_ , Riley had told him when she was skating around the rink in central park a week before her birthday. She had wanted to learn to spin around with him and they had kept falling but she had wanted to feel his hands and they circled around each other. Their faces had been frozen because of the cold air, but their hands were warm, he remembered kissing her lips, they had felt like ice but it had been one of the best moments they had had since they started dating. Two years into this relationship and he knew without a shadow of a doubt that his life would never be the same if he let her go.

“I’m going to find you,” he said to the air around him as he moved through the snow and towards the only path that lead to the lake.

\-------

Her phone was officially dead, she had gotten it to work for a moment, and Lucas had been the first to call it. Now it was gone and her voice was hoarse from screaming for help she couldn’t yell out anymore. She was on the ground watching the snow fall from above her like it was trying to give her comfort but all she wanted to do was cry.

She had heard the desperation in Lucas’s voice, she could imagine her family scared out of their minds. Her father mumbling about Ski Lodges and how they were a terrible curse on him and his family. Her mother probably hugging her brother, Maya holding onto Josh. Everyone worried out of their minds.

“I want to live a happy life,” Riley said to the snow as if it were going to give her all of the answers.

Wondering about her future, and where she wanted to go, she thought back to the thousands of conversations she had had with her family, her friends, her teachers, and Lucas. Lucas whose voice sounded so lost from one short phone call.

The future was something she had been wondering about for so long, ever since the conversation with Uncle John but now she thought about it, she wanted to keep writing she loved it, she saw herself writing stories to empower young minds. She also saw a future where everyone she knew was happy and healthy. She had the image of her and Lucas living happily going to college, learning new things together. Maybe one day getting married, it was one of the things she dreamed about in the future. Lucas wearing a white tux waiting for her as she walked down the aisle, even as her dad complained because no one was good enough for her.

Maya and Josh having their future together, Smackle and Farkle taking over the world, Cassie and Zay opening up a bakery selling his grandmother’s cookies. Auggie and Ava growing up and being happy. Her parents being there whenever she needed them, and everyone just being happy.

She felt so cold, and tired.

“Riley,” she heard someone call out in the distance. It almost sounded like Lucas. “Riley,” the voice called out again but it was so cold she didn’t know if it was real or if it was her teeth making the sound.

“Lucas,” she said as her eyes felt heavy. “I love you.”

He had found her, he couldn’t believe it, she was right in front of him all he had to do was make his way down to her and get her back to the resort. He slowly made his way down his legs covered in snow as he slid down to her. Worry marred his face because she wasn’t really moving and she looked cold.

“Riley,” he said once he reached her. “Riles are you okay.”

“Lucas,” she said giving him a weak smile. “Is this real?”

“Yes princess,” he said pulling her close to him, she felt so cold. He quickly unwrapped the scarf from around his neck and put it around hers. He put the scarf and hat that he had grabbed from Zay and put it on her head.

“I’m so cold,” she whispered. “My leg hurts too.”

He tried pulling her close and rubbing her back just to get some heat into her body. He kissed her on her head and rubbed her arms.

“I love you Lucas,” she said making him smile.

“I know Riley, I love you too, now let’s get back to the resort and get you looked at okay,” he said as he turned around and pulled her arms around his shoulders.

“The last person to give me a piggy back ride was my dad,” she murmured in his ear, her breath warm against his bare neck.

“I give you a million piggy back rides if it means that you won’t get hurt anymore.”

“I’ll settle for just holding your hand.”

“I can do that too,” he smiled.

“Lucas I feel so tired.”

“Don’t fall asleep please Riley, you hit your head I want to make sure you didn’t get a concussion.”

“Okay, I’ll try.”

“Tell me a story Riley, talk please,” he didn’t want her falling asleep and never waking up again.

“When I was a little kid I used to sit at the window at our first apartment, it wasn’t as big as the one we live in now, I think I was four. Anyway I used to sit there waiting for my mom to get home from work, Dad normally took night classes when he was getting certified for his teacher’s license so I usually had a baby sitter until she got back from work. One day they came home together smiling, it was the day after my dad got his certification, my mom had just gotten a huge promotion, but they were smiling because they had just gotten the apartment.”

“That’s a good memory isn’t it,” he said to her because he could hear her voice fading so he wanted to make sure she kept talking. They had just made it back up the hill so he knew they would make it back to the resort soon and then they could get her to the hospital.

“I remember the first time I saw my new bedroom, the bay window looked so magical, but it was actually because my room was huge compared to my room at the old apartment. It was so tiny compared to my room now, but it had been my room for so long. It had this princess wallpaper on it and little white bunnies on the wall, it reminded me of Alice in Wonderland now that I think about it.”

She sighed in his ear making him shiver but he kept his grip on her. “I guess,” she continued. “That this whole picking a career thing is a lot like being lost in wonderland, when you’re trying to find your way home. Except my home is with you and my family, and my friends.”

“I’ll always be your home,” he said realizing that the conversation they were going to have, the promise he wanted to make already existed and it warmed his heart.

“Lucas, my head really hurts,” she said but he could see the lights from the resort lighting up the rest of the way.

“Don’t fall asleep Riles, we’re almost there and if the doctor says it’s okay you can sleep, I’ll stay with you the whole time,” he said holding onto her as much as he could.

“I’ll try my best, as long as you’re there to keep me awake,” she kissed him on the cheek her face was warmer now which was good. “To think this happened just because I wanted to go on an innocent walk… how did you find me anyway?”

“Remember that day in Central Park where we were learning to spin around together?”

“Yeah, I kept falling and you kept falling on top of me.”

“Yeah, well I know that there was something in that memory, something that would make you go looking for a winter wonderland of sorts,” he said smiling.

“Because the snow melts so fast in New York.”

“Yeah but you wished to go skating in a place surrounded by snow that wouldn’t melt, where we could hold hands and drink hot cocoa and just walk around,” he sighed realizing that if he hadn’t been planning that dinner he could have taken the time out to go with her before all of this had happened.

“I know you’re blaming yourself for this but you shouldn’t, it was an accident,” she said making him smiled.

“Yeah well, I might blame myself for a while.”

“Don’t please, that’s like me blaming myself for your accident last year when that baseball hit you.”

“Okay, but I might be in trouble once we get back because I left to look for you without telling anyone.”

“We can be in trouble together,” she said.

They had made it to the resort and like he had said they had started yelling and screaming but at the same time being glad that he had found Riley. They took her to the hospital, thankfully her leg was just a sprain but she had to stay because of her head injury. Lucas refused to leave her side the whole time, and when the doctor said it was alright for Riley to go to sleep he sat back and watched her.

Her father walked into the room and gave him a blanket.

“I should be angry with you,” Mr. Matthews said to him. “You left without telling anyone and put your life in danger, but I can’t be mad with you because you found her. You know her better than even Maya does and that’s saying a lot.”

“That’s not true, we all know a part of Riley that no one else does,” Lucas said looking at his sleeping girlfriend. “Everyone loves her and she loves everyone, she sees the best in them all.”

“That’s true and I think it’s time I do the same… I feel insecure about letting her grow up because she’s my baby girl, but in the end you have been there and you’ve been good to her this whole time, not counting the sleepover day, but you’re a good person Lucas.”

Lucas couldn’t help but smile, “So in some way you’re approving of our relationship.”

“In a way, but the rules still apply.”

“I understand, plus we like our dates with Auggie and Ava.”

“You don’t see them as babysitting?”

“Not really, it’s cute and I get to do all of these things I would be able to do if I had siblings of my own.”

“You’re a good guy Lucas, and I guess I should be proud that Riley chose you over a million of guys. But you hurt her and I’ll make sure you never see the light of day.”

“Stop threatening Lucas Dad,” Riley said waking up on her own.

“I’m not, I give my approval, but I’m watching you… the both of you,” he said before kissing her on the head and walking out of the room.

“Your dad just gave me the shovel talk,” Lucas said smiling. “It’s weird but I kind of liked it because it means he’s going to be nicer to me. I’ll let him chase me out of your room and steal my shoes if it makes him feel better.”

Riley laughed, while made him smile. “Get some sleep Lucas.”

“As long as I can stay here with you,” he said pulling the chair closer and taking her hand.

“That’s fine,” she yawned. “I’m still tired so we can nap together.”

He smiled and gave her a quick kiss on the lips, “Goodnight Riley.”

“Goodnight Lucas.”


	16. Girl Meets Future Careers

It had been two weeks since New Year’s, Riley had to wear a boot in order to walk around which was hard enough with the icy sidewalks and snowy streets. The school was having all of the students fill out future career forms while they finished off their college applications. Riley still wasn’t one hundred percent sure of what she wanted but she knew that she wanted to keep writing. So she sat in the café with her foot elevated while she did her homework, and tried to figure out how to fill out the paper.

She couldn’t work for the time being, so Maya picked up her extra shifts because she wanted to save up for a trip she had been planning with Josh. Riley only had small fractures on her leg from the accident but they took time to heal so she was going to be stuck with the boot for another two and a half months. She was alright with that because she still got paid for writing articles but sometimes it was nice to do something else. She couldn’t do cheerleading either because of her leg, but she still went to all of Lucas’s basketball games.

“So what are you putting on your form Maya?” Riley said when Maya sat down for her break.

Maya smiled at her as she handed Riley a cup of hot tea. “I want to keep up with my art, so I was thinking that I could be an art teacher, kind of like Ms. Kossal,” she shrugged and Riley smiled.

“That’s so sweet,” Riley said smiling at her best friend.

“Yeah Maya the troublemaker is going to be a teacher.”

“Oh please, Uncle John rode a motorcycle, so did Harper, and they’re cool teachers so you’re going to be a cool teacher too.”

“Okay I’ll try my best, but first I need to get into college and actually be able to afford it,” Maya said leaning onto Riley’s side. “Don’t pick somewhere too expensive.”

“Maya you can get scholarships for art you know, I know you know because we got into that huge fight last year over it but don’t worry I’ll help you.”

“Okay,” she said before getting up to grab some food.

The guys all slowly walked in from practice, Farkle and Smackle were conducting a study on student athletes so they had been spending their afternoons with the basketball team. Cassie was with them because she was still on the cheerleading team. They were all smiles as they walked inside the café, Lucas quickly walking over and kissing her on the head.

“How are you feeling?” he asked before sitting down next to her.

“It doesn’t hurt that bad, but I’m afraid of walking around because there could be black ice on the ground,” she said taking his hand in hers.

“I’ll take you home later,” he said leaning into her side.

“Hey do you know what you guys are putting into the career forms?” Cassie asked as she sat down next to Zay.

“I’m going to be a veterinarian,” Lucas said smiling at Riley.

“I want to write, but I don’t know what just yet so for now I’m going to go for a writing degree,” Riley said as she played with Lucas’s hand.

“I’m going to be an art teacher,” Maya said setting down a plate of food for all of them. “If you make fun of me for it I’ll kick your ass.”

They all looked at her knowing she would do it if one of them opened their mouth. They all turned to Smackle in order to divert the attention away from Maya.

“I’m going to get a Ph.D. in Biology,” Smackle said. “And probably in several other things. I want to be a biologist. I haven’t decided on a branch just yet but I want to be able to find cures, while also finding ways for humans to survive in deep space.”

“I’m taking over the family business,” Farkle said smiling at his friends. “I want to lead my dad’s company into clean energy because I want our planet to survive.”

Riley remembered in middle school how Farkle had want to take over the world, but in the end realized just how important the world they lived in was. Now he was going to really make a difference and she was proud of him for that.

“I’m going to get a degree in criminal justice,” Zay said and Riley looked over at him. “I realized that the best way to change the system was to do it from the inside, so I want to be a detective and make sure that no one goes to jail for the wrong reasons.”

She smiled at him, “Way to go Zay, you should talk to my mom see if she could get you a mentor within the police department.”

“That would be cool,” he said smiling at her. “Thanks Riley.”

“You guys are so prepared, I’m not even sure of what I want,” Cassie said looking a little sad.

“Cass,” Zay said putting his arm around her shoulders. “I know one thing your good at, and that’s cooking.”

“But how can that be a career?” Cassie said as she slumped into the seat.

“Well you could get a business degree,” Riley said to her friend. “And from there you could find a way to get a culinary license and start your own place.”

“As interesting as that sounds I wouldn’t know where to start,” she said looking sad.

“Well Uncle John told me that college… well the first two years is about finding where you want to go so in the end start there.”

“I’m afraid that if I leave there will be no one here to help my family,” she said and Riley knew that this wasn’t about Cassie’s insecurities but about her friend leaving her family.

“Do you think that your mom would want you to stay at home and help her? Do you think she would want you to give up going to school?”

“No she wouldn’t, she actually yelled at me about it, but the financial burden is not something I want to leave my parents,” Cassie said and Riley looked at her and then at Maya.

“Okay, I’m going to make sure that you get scholarships to go to school,” Riley said looking at her friends. “We’re all going to get scholarships because we’re all hardworking students,” They all looked at Riley like she had grown a third head. “What? Listen I have this boot on my leg and I can’t do anything, I can’t work, I’m out of the cheerleading team, so instead I’m going to work for you guys.”

“Riles are you sure that you don’t want to be a lawyer like your mom,” Maya said smiling at her.

“I’m not sure, but again college is about learning who you want to be, I want to write but that won’t stop me from getting a degree worth working for. I could be a cool writer though.”

“The best,” Lucas said smiling at her.

Riley worked for the next week on making sure that their applications were finished, both for scholarships and for college. She did her homework while everyone was at practice or doing which ever afterschool activities that they needed to do and when they all came to the café, or to her house. Lucas always made sure to take her home on days she went to the café, but he also stayed with her when she was home.

Once all the applications had been sent out she couldn’t help but smile, mainly because she loved helping her friends, but also because she felt as though she had accomplished something special. She wanted nothing more than for her friends to succeed because without them she doesn’t know where she would be in her life. This was her way of saying thank you, for the people who had become a part of her family.


	17. Girl Meets Abroad

Josh saw the paper and couldn’t feel anything but shock, he had applied the year before, this was before he and Maya started dating, it was on a whim. He had been pushing himself away from Maya at the time and was trying to give her the chance at having her life. Riley found out and told him he was being an idiot, but at the time he had applied for the program. It was only for a few months but it was supposed to give him the chance to find his footing in his life.

“Crap,” he said out loud, while staring at the acceptance letter. Two-month semester abroad, an intensive course study with little to no breaks, an escape from reality. The program was supposed to be held half in Europe and the other half at the NYU campus. Four classes in total, but how had he forgotten about the application at all.

Of course, the answer to all of his questions was Maya, she had made him forget about everything. They studied together, he sometimes sat in her room while she drew something and he read a book. Sometimes he would read to her while she painted, and although she would deny it to everyone in the world, he knew she liked it. He picked stories that he knew she would enjoy, they had gone through all kinds of novels throughout their relationship and it had been weird at first but after a while she would just lay down next to him on the floor as he read to her.

That’s why this was going to be the hardest decision he would have to make at the moment, because this relationship was still new. Their one-year anniversary was still a month away, and he would be in Europe the day it happened. He sighed as he sat on his bed in his dorm room. He had a single, which was rare as it was, but he had gotten lucky when they had given it to him, even though he rarely spent any time in the room. He worked at Topanga’s, he ate dinner with Maya and her parents, or at his brother’s house.

Not knowing what to do he leaves his room and starts walking towards the park, but he doesn’t stay there, he keeps going watching the lights of the city around him. It was home because he lived there, it was home because his family was near-by, it was home because he had found someone he loved there. He found himself in a park close to his brother’s place, it was almost dark but the park was still open to the public. He always found it weird that the parks were closed after a certain time, but he knew it was because it was New York and all kinds of things happened in the big city.

“You know you could just come upstairs,” Riley said sitting down next to him. Her foot encased in a boot from the skiing trip.

“Why are you out here?” he asked her looking pointedly at her foot.

“Well the snow is gone, and I just wanted to take a walk, the park is close so I wouldn’t have to go very far,” she said smiling at him. “What’s wrong?”

Josh sighed knowing that he couldn’t really keep anything from Riley, “Last year, before Maya and I started dating, during that awkward time before you forced us into admitting our feelings, I applied to this program, it’s competitive, but half of the year is spent in Europe, I think it’s Germany this time, anyway they accepted me.”

“That’s great Josh,” she said to him smiling. “You’re worried aren’t you, about how Maya would react.”

“Among other things,” he said looking at his niece with sadness in his heart. “Is it bad that I still want to go?”

“No, it’s not bad Josh, it’s something good and although I know Maya would be happy for you, she would also be sad. She does care about you very much.”

“I need to talk to her about it,” he said watching the streetlights turn on as the darkness slowly engulfed the street.

“She’ll freak out for like a minute,” Riley says watching kids run home as the lights turned on. “The question is do you think this would change your relationship?”

“Doubtful,” he sighed. “We’re stronger together but it’s still two months apart.”

“But it’s an opportunity you can’t pass up because it will be something that taints your relationship.”

“Why do I have a feeling that this isn’t just about me?”

“It’s not, but in the end, we both have decisions to make about the future, and if our relationships survive after all of that then maybe it will be something special.”

Josh looked at his niece’s face and realized that as much as she loved Lucas there was something under it all that held onto her insecurities. Before it was about whether they were good enough for one another, Maya was a part of that as well as the bullies she had to face the year before. Now it was their future. Riley held onto everything in regards to her own struggles until it all exploded, but when it came to everyone else she fought tooth and nail for them.

“I’m going to go talk to Maya, but Riley whatever you’re thinking stop,” he said looking at her as he got up. “Trust your heart.”

She smiled at him and nodded, “I will as long as you trust yours.”

“Promise.”

He walked her home and then made the short trip to Maya’s apartment. He knew that this was one of a million tests that he had to go through because of his relationship with Maya, if they survived one test they would be stronger together.

Maya was standing in her room thinking about what it would be like to lose her childhood home, if they moved what would it mean especially when she got into college. Or at least if she went to college, she was never sure if she could get into any school but with Riley on the case, not only for her but for all of them, Maya was a little more optimistic. She might never go to a big school like NYU but she had some kind of future ahead of her.

“Hey,” Shawn said as he walked into her room. “So I wanted to talk to you about something.”

“Sure,” she said before sitting on her bed, before patting the mattress for him to sit down next to her. “Talk away.”

Shawn always made her nervous, not in a weird way, just in the he’s now my father please don’t leave us kind of way. She didn’t want to lose her family.

“Well your mom and I’ve been looking at apartments big enough for all of us, but your grandma wants to move to Florida, she keeps saying that she’s retired and we should let her live a little.”

“Yeah well, she’s feisty, and I think she wants to live somewhere that won’t make her arthritis act up,” Maya loved her grandmother and knew that the old woman wanted to really run around causing hell in a warm place.

“Well, we’re letting her go, she’s going to use her social security to go live in Florida, and we’ll send her things if she needs them.”

“Does that mean we’re not moving?” Maya asked hopeful but Shawn looked at her and shook his head.

“We’re still moving, I don’t want you or your mom walking home so late and something were to happen because we live so far from her job. But we did find a place you’d approve of.”

Maya gave him a questioning look, “I don’t know I’m pretty picky.”

“Well it’s in the building next to Riley’s so I think it would be perfect,” he said smiling. “There’s an apartment there, it’s as big as the Matthew’s apartment and we can afford it so we signed the papers today… but if you don’t want to move there we’ll find somewhere else.”

She couldn’t help the smile on her face, she had dreamed of living in a place like Riley’s all of her life. “The baby gets the bay window,” she said automatically.

“Why?” Shawn said.

“Well I’m going to college soon but I want the baby to have a room like Riley’s.”

“What if we have a boy? Would it still be the same kind of place?”

“Please you know mom is going to have a girl,” she said smiling, they weren’t sure. “It doesn’t matter either way as long as they have a safe place.”

“That’s fine with me,” he said hugging her. “Okay, your mom and I are going to plan, and I’ll call when dinner’s ready.”

He left her to her own thoughts, which were only filled with happiness, her family was alright, they were going to grow. She had her friends, her life, and most of all she had Josh. She went back to thinking, not about this room but her new room, the baby’s room, how their furniture would fit in a bigger place. There was an image in her mind for the walls of the nursery, something adorable, because she wanted to leave a present for her sibling.

A knock on the door broke her thought process as the door swung open revealing Josh, standing tall in front of her.

“Hey Maya,” he said as he walked in and she knew automatically that something was on his mind because usually he just walked in and sat down without saying a word especially when she was drawing or painting.

“What’s wrong?” she asked automatically.

“We need to talk about something,” he said and she never realized how much she hated the words we need to talk before. That’s what people said before they broke up with their significant other. “It’s a good thing in a way,” he kept talking even though her mind was going through a million thoughts at once.

“If you’re going to break up with me just get it over with,” she said trying to be the strong fearless person she knew she was even though she could feel her heart breaking.

“Maya,” he said kneeling in front of her. “I’m not breaking up with you.”

“Then why do you want to talk,” she said as her traitorous voice broke.

“I have a school thing,” he started but stopped before he pulled her into a hug. “You have to listen to everything I have to say before you say anything.”

“Okay,” she said wiping a stray tear from her face.

“Okay,” he said before sitting on his feet and looking at her. “Before we started going out I applied to this prestigious program, it’s very competitive but it’s a good experience for a student. I found out this morning that I was accepted into the program.”

“Josh that’s great,” she said but he held up his hand.

“I’m not finished,” he said and she could see a flash of sadness in his eyes. “The program sends students overseas for the first two months of the semester.”

“Oh,” she said looking at him for the first time. He was leaving for two months, which meant he was going to miss their anniversary, his own birthday, which she had been planning a surprise party for. “You want to go,” she whispered.

“Yes,” he said. “We could write to each other every day, we can skype too.”

She thought about it for a moment, she wanted to scream about how unfair it was, but she also knew that he deserved the chance that he was being given.

“As long as you take me to prom,” she said knowing that she needed to let him go but it still hurt just a little bit to let go. “And we go on a trip to see my grandmother in Florida this summer.”

There were tears in his face as he nodded, “We can visit my parents too… are you really okay with this?”

“Not really, but I know that our relationship can only get stronger if we trust each other enough to let the other person do something they really want to do.”

“I trust you more than anything,” he said to her.

“You have to send me post cards every week,” she demanded. “One email a day with a picture of something interesting that you saw,” she tried to keep the tears back because Maya didn’t cry. “And we can skype twice a week.”

“That’s fine with me, but you have to send me updates on which schools you get accepted to,” he said smiling at her. “And pictures of anything you draw when I’m not here.”

“I want you to record a book for me,” she said taking his hand. “Just so it can feel like you’re here reading to me like you normally do.”

“Okay,” he said pulling her close to him. She could feel his heartbeat against her ear.

“Bring me back something they only sell wherever you’re going.”

“I will, and you should learn to make that banana bread from the bakery and send it to me,” he said breathing her in.

“Okay,” she said as she ran her fingers through his hair.

They stayed there holding onto each other until Shawn came in to tell her dinner was ready, Josh stayed for dinner explaining to Shawn what was happening. Shawn in turn gave him a guide book on Germany that he had, with tabs on all kinds of places Josh should check out.

He left two weeks later, Maya waving him off at the airport while Riley held her hand. Josh sent his first email the minute he landed, a picture of himself at the airport and the _words I miss you already_ written on the image. The Hunter family moved into their new apartment the week after, and Maya sent Josh the sketch of what she wanted to paint in the nursery.


	18. Girl Meets A Friend in Need

Riley noticed that something was wrong the moment that Zay didn’t show up at their baking class, cookie day was coming up and he had told her that he wanted to send something to his grandmother. Cassie had started joining them when she had heard about the whole cookie thing, especially since Zay loved to taste everything she made. The two girls looked around wondering why their partner wasn’t there for class.

“Have you talked to him?” Riley asked as she turned to her friend.

“We talked last night, he said he would be here, and he’s never late because he always wants to pick the recipe,” Cassie said as she nervously watched the door.

After a minute Cassie pulled out her phone and checked the messages for what felt like the millionth time. Riley pulled out hers and sent a message to Lucas asking where Zay was. The class started at 9am, and Riley knew that on Saturday’s after a game Lucas slept in. She would have too but the baking class was priority, especially since they had to pay to be there, it was also the only activity that Riley and Zay had together without the rest of their friends.

Her phone beeped and Riley looked down to see the message, _Grandma Gandy passed away._

“Oh no,” she said out loud before she pulled Cassie out the door. “We need to go to his house now.”

“What’s wrong?” Cassie said her face full of worry.

“His grandmother died, he’s told you about her right?”

“Yes, she always sent him a cookie, actually he was so excited because she was talking about coming to New York for his graduation,” Cassie said with a smile on her face and Riley’s heart broke just listening to her friend.

“She passed away,” Riley said trying not to cry.

Cassie pulled Riley the moment the words had left her mouth, they ran to the subway as the rain started to fall on them, and took the uptown train to their neighborhood. By the time they reached Zay’s house both of them were soaked, neither had cared to use their umbrellas opting to run in the rain. Riley was glad that her leg had healed because she wasn’t sure that she could have survived that run with the boot on her leg.

Lucas was the one who opened the door to the two rain soaked girls, he quickly pulled them in giving Riley a hug. Grandma Gandy had been as much a part of Lucas’s life as she had been a part of Zay’s. So she knew he was sad as much as Zay was, but she also knew that Zay was going to be broken up about it.

Cassie let go of Riley’s hand and stood in the living room, when Lucas had let Riley go she saw Zay sitting on the couch no crying, not moving, as if he were frozen there in that spot. Cassie launched herself towards her boyfriend while Riley just watched not knowing what to do. She hadn’t felt a loss like since Mrs. Svorski, and she feared losing anyone in her family just as much. It wasn’t until Cassie’s arms were around Zay that he made a noise, as he whimpered in his girlfriend’s arms. Lucas pulled Riley away leaving the two of them alone. Lucas made some food for them, while Riley just stood there silently holding herself together.

“What can we do for him?” she asked Lucas as he made sandwiches.

“We can be there for him, that’s all we can really do,” he said to her with a gentle squeeze on her shoulder.

Zay had sat there in the living room all night, his parents had broken the news to him just after he had gotten back from the game. They had cried, but Zay felt frozen in place, he didn’t know what to do especially so close to cookie day. He had felt numb the whole time, he couldn’t sleep, all he could do was stare out into the space in front of him and wonder why it had to happen. He didn’t cry, he didn’t know if he could. He could only hear his parents saying something in the background, but they sounded like the teacher and the adults in those Charlie Brown cartoons. Nothing registered in his mind.

The night gave way to the day, and Lucas showed up at seven in the morning after his mother had found him in the same place he had been since the night before. She said something to him but he couldn’t hear her, and that’s when she had called Lucas. His best friend came over, and sat with him without saying a word. Zay still couldn’t move, he didn’t know what to do with himself and so they sat there. It wasn’t until Cassie came over soaking wet and threw her arms around him that it had finally all come out.

The last conversation he had with his grandmother was about them going to Texas during spring break, and him introducing Cassie to her. His grandmother always asked about Cassie, and he would tell her about what they did during the day. It was normal and special, because Cassie was his first real serious relationship. He liked Vanessa and had gone out with her, but it wasn’t the same as it was with Cassie. She was his sunshine, she was everything he could ever want in someone. He loved how she smelled like vanilla after she baked a cake, or how she would talk about owning her own business, especially after the talk about their future careers. He liked the way she encouraged him to be a better person, but also came over to have dinner with his parents.

Tears streamed down his face so he buried himself in her shoulder and let the tears fall, because he would never be able to introduce her to his grandmother. His mother came into the room and hugged them both, holding them as she watched her son fall apart for the first time since she had given him the news. His mother rubbed circles around his back before kissing him on the head and walking away only to come back with some dry clothes for the both of them and a plate of food.

“Lucas took Riley home,” she said smiling at him. He could see the sadness in her eyes, but he couldn’t say anything without falling apart so he nodded. “Riley said she’ll bring over some food once she’s changed, but Lucas made these sandwiches for you two.”

“Thank you Mrs. Babineaux,” Cassie said before she walked away to change into Zay’s sweats and a shirt from his mother’s closet. Zay changed in his room, looking at the last photo he had taken with his grandmother. His heart felt raw in his chest.

“She loved you very much baby boy,” his mother said as she walked into the room. “She lived a long life, and she’s very proud of you.”

“I know,” he said his voice felt all wrong, but he didn’t know if he could say anything else.

“Isaiah, my beautiful child,” his mother pulled him close. “Death isn’t the end, she still lives in your heart, and with all of her children. You’re allowed to be sad but is it what she would have wanted?”

“No,” he said feeling lighter for a moment. “She would have kicked all of our asses and say that we should celebrate her life because that’s what she would have wanted.”

“So let’s celebrate, let’s talk about our happiest moments with her, and when we meet again we can tell her the stories of our lives.”

He nodded and let himself be pulled into his mother’s arms, “Your dad is already on his way to Texas, I dropped him off at the airport. We’ll join him tomorrow afternoon.”

“Okay,” he said as she let go of him.

“Pack a couple of things,” she said as she walked towards the door. “And Zay, be happy for having known your grandmother, because not a lot of people would have gotten the chance to know theirs. She was a strong woman, and she would have wanted you to be at your best.”

Once she had left, Cassie walked in and sat there with him, he was tired, and he could feel it dragging him down.

“Do you want me to leave?” Cassie asked as he started to use her as a pillow.

“No, can you stay for a while even if I’m asleep?”

“Sure,” she said giving him a quick kiss before she pulled him towards his pillow. She read to him, nothing in particular just what she could pull up on her phone, she let him sleep without waking him.

Lucas and Riley had come back but left once they had heard that he had fallen asleep, Riley left a batch of chocolate chip cookies with a note saying _Happy Cookie Day, because your grandmother would have wanted you to keep celebrating_. And he knew she was right, so he shared them with Cassie and told her stories about his grandmother.

The next day him and his mother were on a plane to Texas, eating another batch of cookies as well as a cake from both Cassie and Riley. He laughed because it was both comfort food for him but also their way of cheering him up. Zay had spoken at his grandmother’s funeral, but only about the happy times, and mostly about the cookies they shared. He had also inherited his grandmother’s cook books which made him smile, there was a note inside of the book, where the cookie recipe was,

_My little Zay,_

_I hope you remember how special these cookies are, but how special you are to me. I love you Zay and I hope you do great things._

_-love Grandma Gandy_

His mother smiled next to him, “She was going to give it to you for graduation.”

He smiled at his mother and looked at the cookbook, under the letter was a picture of him and his grandmother baking cookies when he was five. This was the image he was going to remember, the smell of cookies baking, and his grandmother helping him mix all of the ingredients with a smile on their face. He hoped that when he had kids this would be the same picture he had on his wall.


	19. Girl Meets Family Vacation

Family weekends have become a somewhat normal thing in the Matthews household, no friends, no school, just the four of them on the road to some random destination. This weekend they were going to a bed and breakfast in Vermont because her father wanted to taste maple syrup and eat pancakes. Riley couldn’t believe it when they had picked the destination, but it sounded like something her father would want to do. During the summer they took Riley and Auggie to amusement parks, or a lake, one time they went to Mr. Feeny’s lake house which was fun because they learned to fishing that time.

Now they were inside of a bed and breakfast, Riley and Auggie in one room, and her parents in the other. They went to lunch and then her parents went to sit in their room, but Riley knew that they just wanted to be alone for a while, so she sat with Auggie in their room and pulled up a movie.

“Riley,” Auggie said as they started watching the Avengers. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure Augs,” she said turning to her brother.

He sat there for a minute looking at his hands. “Are you going away to college?”

Riley had only applied to schools in the city or somewhere nearby that it would be easy to come home and visit but she hadn’t discussed anything with her family because she hadn’t picked a school that she really wanted to go to. Her first choice had always been NYU but she didn’t apply because of Maya, Riley hadn’t thought about what she was giving up because there were a million other schools that could give her the same education. She had realized that when she had looked at all of the schools.

“I’m not going to go far away,” she said if she was being honest she wasn’t really sure where she was going to go. “All the schools I applied to are either in the city or nearby enough that you can take the metro north just to get to me.”

“Okay,” he said nodding. “I don’t want you to go too far, because… I still need you.”

Riley pulled her brother towards her and hugged him close. “Don’t worry Auggie, we can talk on the phone if I move to a dorm, and you can sleep over once and a while. I’ll come home during every break and we’ll still have family time.”

“I know it’s just weird,” he said looking at her. “You’ve been there for me my whole life and now you’re not going to be there.”

“Auggie, my darling baby brother, you came into my life when I was seven years old, you have all of my wisdom, and none of the over protectiveness dad has given me, so you’ll be fine, and if you ever need me and I can’t come home, just open up your laptop and skype me from the bay window, because the bay window is a special place no matter where I am.”

“Okay,” he said as she kissed his head and played with the springing curls of his hair.

They watched the movie together, tired from their drive up to the bed and breakfast. Falling asleep in each other’s arms not long afterwards. Their parents came in to check on them only to tuck them in and closing the laptop.

“You know we have raised them really well,” Cory said as he closed the door to the kids’ room. “Other than dealing with hormones, and boyfriends I think we did very well.”

“I find it interesting that you mention the word boyfriend, but not girlfriend especially since Ava and Auggie are practically attached at the hip, and have been for years now,” Topanga said pulling her husband back into their room.

“Oh please those two are easy compared to dealing with Riley and Lucas.”

“Cory, I know you gave Lucas your blessing but he has been nothing but a kind person, even with his past record. Riley is good for him, and he’s good for her, you really should let all of this go you know… before he sues you for theft, because those shoes never made it back to him.”

“It’s just that Riley’s…”

“I’m going to stop you right there Cory Matthews, just because Riley is a girl doesn’t mean that she can’t get the same trust and respect that you give Auggie, because what if down the line he got Ava pregnant before they graduated high school? Huh? If it had been Riley you would have killed Lucas but with Auggie you have this weird double standard, and you have to let go of that.”

She watched as his face fell, “I don’t know why I’m like this with her.”

“It’s because she’s been your baby girl for as long as you remember, but she’s grown now, she’s going to college, and she’s going to experience a lot of the things we did when we went to school. It’s not different except you’re an over protective idiot.”

“Well you did marry me so that means I’m your overprotective idiot,” he said as he sat down on the bed. “I don’t know why I’m like this… maybe it’s because your dad got to me all those years ago with the whole I should have worried about you more than Shawn talk.”

“Well my dad is an idiot too, so it doesn’t really matter does it,” she said with a smile. “I love you Cory, even if you’re a little unreasonable sometimes.”

“Hey, I did lay off of him didn’t I, but I’m afraid of what’s going to happen in the future.”

“Just let them live their lives, and we’ll be there when they need us,” she said thinking that she needed to have a talk with Riley before her daughter went off to college.

The next day the Matthews sat in a diner and ate pancakes with maple syrup while they all talked about going on a walk. They never went on that walk instead opting to take in the sights of the town and do some shopping. Riley liked the feel of the small town, especially after living so long in the big city, the fresh air was bonus.

“Hey mom,” she said as she rushed towards her mother who had been looking at something in one of the windows. “Can we go visit the schools I applied to?”

Riley realized that the best way to pick a school was to see them in person, she couldn’t choose because she didn’t know what she wanted from them, but this little weekend trip made her want to see the schools and see which ones she wanted to take a chance on.

“Sure, but this is something we should have done before you even applied,” her mother said looking at her with a smile. “Better late than never.”

“Yes,” she said. “But can we do it without dad because I’m pretty sure that he would try to find the nearest convent just to keep me out of the dorms.”

“A mother daughter weekend,” her mother said smiling. “I’m in, plus I love looking at schools.”

“Thanks mom,” Riley said hugging her mother.

“What are my girls talking about?” her father said as he came around the corner with Auggie.

“Just that we love window shopping,” Riley said with a smile.

“Let’s go and actually buy something,” her mother winked at her so Riley followed along.

“Get a magnet,” her father called out as they went into a store.

They didn’t get a magnet, the store only sold vintage clothes which made Riley happy because it meant that she could look around to see what she could get. In the far corner she saw a dress, it was pale pink and looked like a princess gown, except it was shorter, the dress only went down just below her knees.

“That’s a prom dress if I’ve ever seen one,” her mother said smiling at her. The bodice had small stitching on it with little beads and a small bow on the left side of the waist. It was so pretty.

“Can I get it?” Riley asked enchanted by the dress.

“Try it on, if it fits then it was meant to be,’ her mother said pulling it off the rack it hung on.

Riley nodded and walked into the dressing room to try it on, when she saw herself in the mirror she knew it was the dress she would wear to prom. She turned and showed her mother who nodded and gave her the thumbs up.

“It’s beautiful,” her mother said.

They bought it, and decided to add a shoe trip to their mother daughter day, it was something as simple as buying a dress that made Riley think that she was the luckiest girl in the world to have a mother like hers.

When they got back to New York, Riley hung the dress up in a far-off corner of her closet, she wanted to surprise Lucas with it on prom night, and since Maya would likely open the closet while Lucas was in the room, the best option was to hide it where Maya wouldn’t be able to find it… tucked in a hat box in the corner.

Her mother had taken her shoe shopping the next weekend, opting to do the college trip closer to mid-March when the weather was a little warmer. They went to several stores and tried on a million shoes, laughing when they were too much, or not enough. They walked all over the city, or too the subway when they needed to get further uptown. Riley hadn’t cared about the shoes as much as she cared about just spending time with her mother, the two of them laughing and smiling, hugging and holding onto one another as they rushed across the street. Those were the moments that she wanted to remember the most.


	20. Girl Meets the Talk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I’m going to warn you ahead of time, this is slightly shocking, but they’re in high school so it shouldn’t be too shocking.

They were having a girl’s day in Riley’s room, the four of them just talking and having fun, because Riley wanted to have these moments. After spending days with her family on vacation, or shopping with her mother, she realized just how important relationships are. She had seen it with Zay and his Grandmother just before she died, she had seen it between her own Grandmother and her Aunt Morgan. Friends and family are important, and these moments were ones that she wanted to have and remember for the rest of her life.

So, Maya, Smackle, and Cassie were all in her room, laughing and watching movies, they picked the movie Scream because Maya wanted horror, but Riley didn’t want something too scary. Scream was right in between so they watched, and Riley jumped every time something happened.

“Is it real or just a myth?” Cassie said looking over at them. “You know the thing about a virgin being the one who survives it all?”

“Statistically speaking it’s impossible because if someone wants to kill you they’re not going to question whether or not you’re having any form of intercourse,” Smackle says making the rest of them look at her with a new light.

Maya laughs for a moment and thinks about it before they put in the next movie. “If these movies generally happen in college, or high school, and if anyone of us has done anything, or assuming that at least the majority of us have had sex, I can automatically think who would survive.”

When all three of them look at Riley she doesn’t know what to do, “What I’m going to be the only one to live and you all die? Is there something you’re not telling me?”

“Riley would be the one who survives,” Cassie said looking at them.

“Cass have you and Zay… um… you know,” Riley asked hoping to deflect the attention away from her.

“Well, not that far, I mean we’ve talked about it because we’ve been going out for something close to ten months now,” Cassie blushes as she says it. “And my mom always wants me to be prepared for anything.”

Riley can feel her mouth drop before turning to Smackle, the level headed one who’s been in a relationship with Farkle over three years.

“What Farkle and I do in our personal time is of no business to any one of you,” Smackle says outright and Riley is shocked just to hear it from the brunette’s mouth.

“Smackle and Farkle have done it,” Maya blurts out, before she starts laughing for a moment.

“Again, it’s not any of your business,’ Smackle says with a hint of a blush on her face.

“Oh… my… god,” Riley says but her mind is still trying to get around the fact that the two geniuses always look so innocent.

“And what about you and Uncle Boing,” Smackle said looking directly at Maya. The question stops Maya in her tracks, before the blonde starts to blush.

“We haven’t done anything… yet,” Maya said avoiding Riley’s gaze. “We’ve groped each other when we make out but we haven’t gotten that far, Shawn usually shows up before we do anything which I think he gets from Matthews.”

“I can’t listen to this,” Riley said before getting up and trying to get out of the room before being pulled back by Maya and Cassie.

“What you and Lucas never groped? Have you even gone pass the kissing part?” Maya asks as she pulls Riley to the bay window. Which irritates Riley because the bay window is sacred, and it was the one place where they knew she couldn’t lie.

“We’ve only kissed, and held hands, and sometimes I put my head on his shoulder,” Riley said feeling her cheeks heat up while under the scrutinizing gaze of her three friends.

“Riley will be the only survivor if this happens in college,” Cassie said a hint of amusement in her eyes.

“Riles, you and Lucas have been together for over two years, and you’ve never thought about it?” Maya asks looking directly at her.

“Not since health class,” Riley said as she looked down to the floor.

“Health class? Am I missing something?” Cassie askes looking at the other two girls.

“Freshman year,” Maya said as if it explained everything. When Cassie turned to Smackle for the answer the genius sighed loudly.

“During Freshman year, we had to study about the human reproductive cycle, Riley wanted someone to tell it to her in a gentle matter, it didn’t happen that way, it was after she and Lucas began their relationship and, so it was awkward. Then her father was forced to teach the class because he had angered the health teacher, so I was the one who had to explain the whole reproductive cycle because Mr. Matthews didn’t want to teach the material.”

“Wow,” Cassie said looking back to Riley. “Riley instead of talking with your dad about any of this maybe the one you should be talking to is your mom.”

“My mom talked to me about it,” Maya said looking at them. “Right after Boing and I started dating, her words were protection, or I’ll kill you both.”

“My mother too gave me this speech, and even had me start talking to my physician about it,” Smackle added.

Cassie sighed and looked at Riley, “I’ve known this talk since I was nine years old, because that’s when I first got my period and my mother said that even though it’s seen as a girl becoming a woman I shouldn’t go out and have sex until I was ready, she also told me that I’d be dead if it happened anytime, before I finished school, and since I’m eighteen well I guess the talk with Zay was coming at some point.”

Riley didn’t know what to do, all of her friends knew more about sex than she did, “Who do I blame for me being late to this talk.”

“Your dad,” the three girls said at the same time.

“Give me a minute,” Maya said before running out of the room.

“Where is she going?” Riley said panicked at her best friend walking away from this talk. “Where is she going?”

“She’s probably getting your mother to come and have this discussion with you as soon as possible because you’re overdue for it,” Smackle said.

“I’ve had a discussion with her about it once… last year… after Lucas accidentally slept over,” she said hoping to push away what was going to happen.

“Yeah but Riley, it’s time for that in depth conversation you should be having because I’m pretty sure you didn’t have that conversation with your mother,” Cassie said to her.

Riley sighed and looked up when Maya dragged her mother into the room.

“Girls what’s happening?” her mother said with a confused look on her face.

“I didn’t want to tell you in front of Matthews, because he would freak out, but anyway,” Maya said looking to the group.

“You need to have the sex talk with Riley,” Smackle blurted out to the whole room. “What you were going to slow.”

Her mother looked at her with a shocked expression before sighing, “Honestly I thought health class took care of this.”

“It didn’t,” Maya said before dragging Cassie and Smackle out of the room. “We’ll go pick up some pizza, so take your time.”

When the three girls left the room, Riley was left with her mother and a closed door, her heart pounding in her chest and her face flush with embarrassment.

“What brought this up anyway?” her mother asked after a minute had passed.

“We were watching Scream, and the question of who would survive came up,” Riley said her voice just above a whisper.

“I remember when that movie came out, the whole last girl theory, but it’s such an overdone troupe that I’m amazed any of you believed it,” her mother said looking at her. “Riley it’s just a movie, surviving something like that is more about being able to keep yourself from being found and out thinking the attacker.”

“Yeah, but we got to talking about sex, and they’ve gone farther than I have, they’ve gotten the talk and everything,” she sighed looking her mother in the eye.

“Everyone goes through these things in different way Riley, whether you’re ready or not is up to you and not society, I doubt Lucas would push you into anything you’re not comfortable in.”

“No, he’s a perfect gentleman but what if he’s thinking it?”

“All boys think it, your father thought it and complained but we didn’t do anything until we got married, he didn’t push, actually he did but only because he wanted something, and all that ended up happening from that was that he saw my butt freshman year of college.”

“So, it’s okay if I don’t want to do it just yet?”

“It’s okay to wait, but we should go to the doctor regardless.”

“Why should I have to go to the doctor?”

“Birth control, one of the things you should always remember is that you need to have protection at all times, not just condoms. Girls should carry them just as much as the boys, and if Lucas ever complains tell him that its either with or he gets nothing at all.”

Riley looked at her mother shocked at her words.

“Your father would lock you away if we had this talk in front of him, so I understand why Maya dragged me up here saying something about periods so that he wouldn’t follow.”

“Oh god,” Riley said before she heard her mother laughing.

“Riley just remember what I said, and if your friends are going through these things faster just remember that everyone goes through the phases of life differently. You don’t need to keep up with them, they have to respect your decisions no matter what, or they’re not your friends at all.”

“I think they were shocked about the whole sex talk thing than the sex part, they said it was dads fault that I never had a proper talk.”

“They’re right about that, and it’s also my fault for slacking in that department, I did want to talk to you about it before you went off to college but the case I’m working on right now took over and I forgot, but honestly that’s just bad parenting on my part. I can blame a million things, but I should have made sure to talk to you regardless.”

“You’re a good parent mom, and I don’t blame you,” Riley said before she hugged her mother.

“By the way don’t let your father know that I’m getting the doctor to put you on the pill, because he would have a heart attack and then kill Lucas while he’s at it.”

“Why not the shot?” Riley said knowing about these things because of the commercials on TV.

“Not safe, I want to be certain and the pill has been around longer, if when you get to school and want to make the change it’s up to you but for now the pill is the safest option.”

“Okay,” she said happy that they had this conversation.

Maya, Smackle and Cassie returned with two pizza boxes and drinks as they watched the next Scream movie, they asked her about her conversation with her mother, and although Riley told them about she also told them that she would rather wait until she was certain that she was ready.

“I don’t want to rush into anything, and I’m sure Lucas knows this because he has never pushed me into anything I’m not comfortable with, although my mother said that everyone goes through this differently, which means that I’m also learning from all of you,” she said smiling at her friends.

“That’s what friends are for,” Maya said.

“We get to be there for you when you need us,” Cassie added.

“And we also teach you about things that you wouldn’t outright ask about,” Smackle blurted making them all laugh.

“Never change Smackle,” Riley said pulling them into a group hug over paper plates and pizza slices.


	21. Girl Meets Texas Returns

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was another one of the two part chapters, but I'm only posting it as one

There was something different about going to Texas the second time around, it probably had something to do with the fact that they were on an airplane and not the train. Or maybe that Cassie and Smackle were going when they hadn’t gone the first time, even Josh who hadn’t been there the first time was going. It was also Springtime instead of the Fall, and that it was spring break so they weren’t going down there for a weekend. She knew the reason why it had felt different, and that was because the last time they had gone down there everything fell apart so quickly.

Lucas wasn’t riding again, this was just a trip for the group to unwind and have some fun away from the stress of waiting for acceptance letters, scholarship letters, or even just the stress of school in general. Riley knew she shouldn’t worry but somehow she was worried about what was going to happen regardless. They were already in a van on their way to Lucas’s Pappy Joe’s place when she realized that she wasn’t really ready to face the ranch when it held so many bad memories for her. There had been a few good memories but everything else had been too heartbreaking for her. But the excited voices of her friends forced her to put on a brave face, and ignore the screaming inside of her head.

When they reached the entrance to the house she swore that her heart was in her throat, everyone else talking excitedly to one another, she was just nodding along and talking when she could but other than that it just looked like she was paying attention to the movements around her. She saw the porch where she bumped shoulders with Lucas after telling him that they were brother and sister, the logs around the fire pit where she had told everyone about Maya’s feelings, the living room where she broke her own heart.

 _This is for good memories_ , she told herself but her heart was telling her to run the other way.

“Riles,” Maya said breaking her out of her thoughts, “The four of us are going to share a room.”

“Yeah,” she said as if on automatic. “I’ll sleep on the floor, that way only the three of you would have to figure out who gets the bed.”

“Are you sure?” Smackle said looking at Riley as if she was studying her.

“Yeah, I’m sure.”

“Riles are you alright?” Maya asked looking at her.

“I’m fine, I guess I’m just tired from the trip over here, and I couldn’t really sleep last night either,” she said rubbing her eyes for effect. She couldn’t understand why she was so rattled by the place.

“Are you going to be alright for the rest of the day?” Maya asked her while taking her arm.

“Yes peaches, I’m going to be alright just give me a little coffee to wake me up and I’ll be as good as new,” she said before walking over to the kitchen where Lucas was talking with Pappy Joe.

“Heya there Riley,” Pappy Joe said from his chair, Riley was sure that the man’s southern hospitality was something that came naturally, but everything put her on edge no matter what.

“Hello, it’s good to see you again,” she said smiling once again deflecting her emotions. “Would it be too much trouble to ask for a cup of coffee, I need a little pick me up.”

“Oh good someone else who wants a cup, Lucas was telling me how much of a waste it would be to make a pot of coffee if it’s just for me, but now I can make it,” the man said smiling to her.

“Thank you very much,” she said smiling at him before looking at Lucas who was shaking his head. “What?”

“If you both don’t sleep later you only have each other to blame,” Lucas said laughing before pulling her down on his lap. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, just tired I guess, it was a long trip and all,” she said as she put her arms around his shoulders.

“Okay,” he said placing his head on her shoulder.

His grandfather handed her a cup of coffee with sugar and cream and she had never been so relieved to see caffeine in her life. They drank in silence, as everyone else settled themselves around them, Zay walking in and out of the kitchen like he owned the place.

“We were thinking of having a barbeque outside tonight,” Lucas said as the group finally made their way into the kitchen. “That way we don’t have to go out, plus it means that we’ll be here already if someone is tired.”

Riley knew that the comment was directed at her because he had seen her nearly chug a cup full of coffee but she didn’t care. She was awake now and everything was going to be fine, she was just overreacting for nor reason. It was a harmless trip nothing to worry about.

That night they ate dinner at the house, resting so that the next day they could do any number of things that both Lucas and Zay suggested to them. Riley wanted to ride a horse, because the last time she hadn’t had the chance to do much of anything after the tombstone ride that Lucas had taken. So the next day, very early in the morning she had found herself watching the sunrise waiting for everyone else to get up.

Lost in her thought she watched the sun paint the sky in oranges and reds at the crack of dawn, it was a beautiful sight and that’s how she knew that this trip wasn’t going to be like the last. The sky was too beautiful to change anything.

“You’re up mighty early young lady,” Pappy Joe said walking out onto the porch.

“Yeah well I couldn’t miss the sunrise,” she said with a smile.

“It seems as though you’re in a better mood today,” he said to her as he sat down. “I could tell in your eyes yesterday that you were holding back. Does it have anything to do with that time four years ago?”

She found herself sighing, she knew someone would notice, “Maybe,” she said.

“You know that boy loves you with all of his heart, and I know that relationships are hard but we Friar’s when we find the one we tend to stick with them through the good and the bad, and I know there’s going to be some bad times in your life, but if you two are meant to be together you’ll find your way back to one another,” he said looking her straight in the eyes.

“That sounds beautiful,” she smiled, she still didn’t know what the future held but she wanted to hold onto the moments they had with one another.

“Don’t worry too much,” he said as he began to stretch next to her. “You’re still young, life will have its ups and downs along the way you just have to deal with them as they come. Like right now you can help me feed the animals, but it’s still up to you whether you want to do it or not.”

Riley laughed before standing up and grabbing her sneakers. “I’ll help you out, and maybe afterwards we can have some breakfast.”

“Sure thing young lady,” he said before handing her a pail and walking off towards the barn. Riley followed close behind him looking around at the ranch, she hadn’t remembered it this way the last time she had been there. Now she was going to remember every detail and make those happy memories she wanted to have the last time.

They worked for an hour feeding each of the animals, Pappy Joe walked her through the steps for the horses, the pigs, the cows, and the chickens. He didn’t have a big place, but it was filled with his love for all of the animals he took care of. There was a patch of vegetables near the house so they worked on getting some peppers, onions and tomatoes for omelets. She was careful to pick what was good and not what was handy.

When they reached the backdoor after they finished Lucas was standing there waiting for them. It was just after seven in the morning, everyone else upstairs still sleeping.

“Morning there Princess Dancing Sunshine,” Lucas said smiling so she twirled around the yard until she got to the stairs and climbed up to meet him.

“Good morning Mad Dog,” she said before kissing him on the cheek.

“Morning Pappy Joe,” he said turning to his grandfather who smiled at him.

“Come on Luc, let’s make some breakfast for these city folk,” Pappy Joe said smiling before walking into the kitchen.

“He’s in a good mood,” Lucas said once the older man was inside the house.

“Well we talked and feed the animals, and picked the vegetables,” she said taking his hand even though hers were covered in dirt. “It was a good morning.”

Lucas kissed her on the lips very quickly smiling while he did it, “I’m glad, I was worried about you yesterday but I guess you really were just tired if your back to your happy self today.”

“I was tired but,” she sighed looking up to meet his green eyes. “I was worried and scared and there were so many memories that I guess it just hurt for a moment just to be here.”

He looked at her shocked by what she was saying for a moment before sighing and pulling her into his arms. “Riles there’s nothing to worry about, unless there’s a storm or something, most likely the most we have to worry about this week is Zay and Farkle eating too much, or Smackle saying something that’ll shock my grandfather, or Cassie getting lost because she’s never been to Texas, or Maya and Josh hiding in the bushes to make out like they did yesterday.”

“Boy our friends sure are a handful if you can automatically name off all those things.”

“They are but they’re also our family so in the end we’ll have to keep an eye on them no matter what.”

“Okay,” she said leaning into his arms. “Let’s wash our hands and get started on breakfast.”

They worked together, Riley and Lucas cutting the food up and cooking while Pappy Joe worked on setting the table and gathering up the drinks. Riley found herself humming you are my sunshine while she scrambled the eggs, it was dorky and fun and she couldn’t have it any other way. By the time they were done the rest of the crew came down in their pajamas and sat down on the table in various forms of alertness.

Farkle was not a morning person, he suffered from what Riley called Evil Farkle syndrome, it was something she had found out when she showed up at his house one morning to force him into doing something nice for Smackle. So no one could really talk to him until he’s had at least a cup of orange juice, Smackle on the other hand was alert, but she acted cranky because she thought it was how people acted in the morning.

Zay was awake as long as he had a plate of bacon in front of him, he always had a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich on the way to school, and it had turned into a tradition he shared with Cassie since they walked from the same neighborhood.

Maya has always been a light sleeper, her words were that she hadn’t slept in years but Riley knew that it was because she needed white noise to keep her asleep. This from years of living on the first floor near the street. Josh needed coffee if he was going to be awake at any time before ten in the morning, college has been difficult for him because he has so many different requirements to fulfill so he’s all over the place.

They were all seated at the table, half of them talking while the other half filled their cups and drank from them to wake up. Riley smiled at how normal it felt and then she watched them eat and she sighed as she started tucking napkins into their shirts or on their laps to keep the food from staining their clothes.

“Thanks mom,” Maya mumbled as a joke but everyone stopped and laughed.

“Oh god it’s true you are the mom of the group,” Cassie said looking around. “Look at us, they cooked and everything, but now she’s tucking napkins into us and making sure we’re clean.”

“Wait does that make Lucas the dad?” Zay said looking between Lucas and Riley.

“He likes to make sure we’re all safe and protected so in a way he acts like a dad,” Farkle said before the rest of them started laughing again.

“Shut up and eat,” Riley said scowling at them before starting on her own food.

The group looked at her shocked that she had given the command before they started laughing again. Riley felt herself smile as she watched them all just relaxing and having fun, it was a good start to the day. After everyone was finished, Maya and Josh stayed behind to clean, while Farkle, Smackle, Zay and Cassie went into town to go shopping and to check everything out. They were going to visit Zay’s other grandmother, so he could say hello as well as visiting Grandma Gandy’s grave and having him introduce Cassie officially to his family.

Lucas grabbed Riley’s hand and pulled her outside until they were near the barn. “Let me teach you how to ride a horse,” he said as he pulled her inside.

She smiled and nodded as he explained to her everything that they needed to put on the horse as well as how to clean up afterwards, before they were ready to go out and ride. They were only going to ride in the enclosure on the other side so she could learn and by the end of their trip he wanted to take her on a ride out towards the lake.

He rode with her the first time, their bodies close to one another, she couldn’t help it if her heart was beating so fast that she would pass out from closeness. After two rounds he hopped off and watched as she rode around him with a smile on her face. Lucas had taken out his phone to snap a few pictures of her, she smiled every time she passed him waving for a brief second.

When the sun started to set they all gathered around the campfire, Riley’s heart pounding at the thought of being there again but it hadn’t gone as badly as she had thought.

Maya and Josh had once again snuck off and made out with each other under the stars, making Riley blush when she was forced to go find them. Cassie and Zay talked about what they had done once Smackle and Farkle and left them at Zay’s grandmother’s grave. They had a picnic with Grandma Gandy, talking to her about their lives and how they got to know one another. Farkle and Smackle had lunch at Chubbie’s where they of course ate their way through a mountain of ribs together.

Riley told them about her first experience riding a horse as well as how they should all go riding together before they went back to New York so Lucas told them about the lake and how they should go swimming the next day which meant an early morning for them all because they can’t take all of the horses there.

When they are all ready to go back inside Lucas pulls Riley off to the side and pulls out a couple of sleeping bags.

“I know you’re sleeping on the floor so I thought that maybe tonight we could sleep under the stars,” he said smiling at her.

They had talked after her conversation with her mother a few weeks before, and Lucas understood how she felt, but she did want to cuddle more and this was the perfect opportunity for that.

“Sure, as long as we’re together and no wolves, or bears attack it should be alright,” she said as she looked up at the clear night sky.

“No worries the ranch is fenced in so there’s no possibility of that, but I’ll bring the candle to keep the bugs away from us.”

“Eww, bugs.”

“Well they exist but we should be find, we’re only going to be right here,” he said pointing at the patch of grass just outside the back porch.

Lucas set up the sleeping bags as well as a tent just in case it rained without warning, Riley insisted on putting them inside of the tent with the flap open that way it would feel like they were a million miles away. She cuddled next to him and looked up at the stars, there were so many she wasn’t sure she had ever seen them as bright, it reminded her of the ski lodge trip.

“If you take your phone and point it up at the sky with this app right here,” he said as he pointed it up at the stars just above them. “It will show you what stars you’re looking at.”

They looked at the star map and pointed it at different directions to see how it changed, after a while they put the phone away and just looked at them on their own, as they shined as bright as they could. Riley could feel herself fading as the night went on, the warmth of Lucas next to her as she snuggled into his side. If her father saw them right now surely they would be pulled apart, it’s one of the reason she knew her mother had taken him and Auggie to Philly to see their grandparents. Her mother trusted her to make the right choices and Riley wanted to wait, but it didn’t mean that she didn’t want to cuddle with her boyfriend.

“Night Riley,” Lucas mumbled as he faded into his own sleep right next to her.

\------------

Josh had gotten back the week before spring break, and while the letters, emails, and video chats had been great, it wasn’t the same as when she was with him. She missed those days when she would draw while he read to her, even though no one really knew about them, she missed the days they worked together at the café. Most of all she missed how he would always show up when she needed him the most. Riley was her best friend in the world, and while they hung out and had girl time, and while Riley loved her like a sister Maya had annoyed her to no end the last two months with her grumpiness.

There was just so much you could do when you missed someone, the way Maya missed Josh.

So when they had planned the trip to Texas, Maya made sure that Josh was going to go with them even if he had just gotten back from his own trip. She would have never thought that the day would come where she would like someone as much as she did Josh. But here it was and she wanted to hold onto that feeling, because she was afraid that everything would go to hell so quickly.

The flight to Texas she sat next to Josh and never moved from her seat, she fell asleep next to him just taking in the warmth of him next to him. In the back of her mind she thought of how ridiculous she was being, all because she wanted to be next to Josh. If she didn’t know any better she would say that Riley’s personality was taking over again, but then she realized that this is what feelings were like when you were in a romantic relationship, and it was weird… but she wasn’t sure if she would trade it in for anything else.

That was how, on the first day after the barbeque she had found herself taking Josh by the hand and pulling him towards a set of bushes not far from where their friends were and kissing him under the stars. They would have stayed there all night if Riley hadn’t forced them to go to bed, which was a real disappointment to Maya because she just wanted to be with Josh. The next day they went out for a walk around the ranch, they saw Riley and Lucas with the horses, so the two of them walked in the other direction, and found themselves in a field of flowers. They walked and Josh would pick a few flowers and give them to her, Maya sat there while he chose them carefully, she pulled out her sketchbook and drew the scene in front of her smiling at how beautiful it all was.

That night, the words campfire floated into the air and Maya was all of a sudden thrown back to a day so many years ago where everything went wrong because she had had a moment with Lucas. She knew the cause of it all now but at the time she hadn’t, that night she wanted to forget she had ever hurt her best friend so she took Josh back to the bushes and kissed him senseless. He knew something was wrong, he knew the story so he held her close and gave her what she wanted… comfort.

The next day Josh pulled her aside and took her back to the field.

“Are you alright?” he asked her as they sat down and watched the flowers move with the soft breeze.

“It’s just that,” she said looking at the flowers in front of her. “Last night I realized just how much I hurt Riley all of those years ago, I mean she forgave me way too easily for all of it because of our friendship… Josh I really hurt her.”

He pulled her close and rubbed his hand up and down her back. “I know what happened, well most of it, and I could see the way Riley tensed up last night at the sheer mention of a campfire, but after a while she relaxed so in the end she’s dealing with it as much as you are but there’s one thing that’s different right now versus what happened then.”

“What’s that?”

“You’re all in relationships, and you’re all happy, and most of all your classmates aren’t getting into your heads,” he said to she smiling.

She smiled back realizing that the one problem she had trouble with during middle school, it was losing Riley as a friend, but they’re still friends so in the end that didn’t matter. The other thing was that she had Josh with her, unlike before where she was trying to get over him and letting everything else into her mind. He was an anchor for her in the same way Riley was, they had a piece of her heart and made sure that she didn’t lose herself again.

“Now I know you’re happy to see me and all,” Josh said breaking her out of her thoughts. “But maybe we should do something more than make out while we’re here… what do you say?”

“Well I did hear something about a lake,” she said smiling.

Together with the rest of the group they went to the lake that afternoon, along with a couple of tents and several other supplies, and slept under the stars. Talking about the next couple of months. Prom was coming up, so they had to go dress shopping, graduation, and summer vacation were all things they thought about.

From across the campfire, Maya noticed something about Riley, that although her best friend was smiling something in her eyes told her that Riley was battling something within.

\--------

Zay hadn’t been back in Texas since his grandmother’s funeral, it was still bittersweet to be in the town he had grown up in without Grandma Gandy making something in her kitchen. But this time he had Cassie with him and he had wanted her to see the world he had lived in when he was growing up. The first night they had just hung out, but the next day after breakfast he pulled her out of the house and took her around town. Farkle and Smackle had come along and the four of them took in the town, looking at all of the interesting things that were available. There wasn’t much but it was still fun to do so with his friends.

Farkle pulled Smackle away to go to Chubbies, so Zay took Cassie to the diner to get some sandwiches and then took her to visit the woman that had helped raise him. His grandmother’s grave was small and simple, instead of having someone bring flowers, Zay had asked that they planted his grandmother’s favorites on the side, the textbook name for them are the Pink Evening Primrose, but they’re also known as pink lady’s to Zay. His grandmother loved them because they opened during the day and closed during the night, or at least that’s how they are in Texas she had told him.

“Hey grandma,” he said as they walked up to the headstone. “This is Cassie, she’s my girlfriend and I wanted to introduce you to each other.”

“Hi,” Cassie said waving as if his grandmother was there with them. “We’re going to have lunch with you if that’s alright.”

As she finished the sentence the breeze picked up and Zay couldn’t help but smile, it was almost as if his grandmother was giving his approval. Zay smiled at Cassie before setting a blanket next to the flowers and sitting down, patting the ground for Cassie to join him.

“Tell me about your grandmother,” Cassie said as they pulled the food out of the bag.

“Well,” Zay said looking at the headstone. “My grandmother took care of me when my parents worked, well my dad worked, my mom went to school at first and then she started working. But Grandma Gandy would have me over and she would bake for me every day afterschool. You know the story with the vanilla, but she was also the one who taught me to ride a bike, and would read me stories and help me with my homework.”

“She sounds wonderful,” she said to him with a small smile on her face.

Zay sighed and looked out into the distance, “I miss her so much,” he said as a tear fell down his face, he honestly missed his grandmother because she had been one of the most constant things in his life even after they had moved to New York she would call him every day and tell him about her life.

After they finished eating and had gone back to the house, Cassie went to get ready for the campfire they were going to have but when Zay saw Lucas he smiled as he watched his best friend with his girlfriend. Something good was coming out of this trip and that was that they were all making new memories separated from what had happened four years ago.

The next day they had gone camping together, but it wasn’t until the day after when he noticed that something wrong with Lucas. He pulled him aside the next morning and talked to him but Lucas kept deflecting.

“Lucas tell me,” Zay said pulling his best friend outside and towards the far end of the front lawn.

“I got accepted into Texas A&M,” Lucas answered with a sadness in his eyes. “My father wants me to go but I don’t know what to do because I want to stay with Riley.”

Zay looked at the older teenager, he had remembered how Lucas always said that going to A&M was his dream, this was long before they moved to New York, long before Riley, long before anything had changed.

“I don’t know what to say,” Zay said before he started pacing.

“As much as it was my dream when I was younger, I don’t know any more about going there, I don’t know any more about anything except for Riley, my friends, and my life in New York.”

“Your dad must be proud it would make you a legacy if you went to the same school, he’s always talked about it from what I remembered.”

“Would it be wrong to think about all of this later… I don’t want to deal with it right now.”

“Yeah man, anything you want, but I think you should talk to Riley about this.”

“Eventually, for now I just don’t want this trip to be tainted by anything, I want her to have happy memories from here.”

Zay patted him on the back and nodded. “But the minute we get back you have to talk to her.”

“I will,” Lucas said before walking away.

Zay knew that Lucas had a lot on his shoulders now, but he also knew that Lucas wouldn’t give up Riley for anything not when she was the one who kept him anchored.

\----------

They had been in Texas for five days, they were leaving the next morning to go back home and regroup before they went back to school on Monday, but Riley wasn’t feeling happy anymore. Everything had been going great until the day they had gone camping, that afternoon Lucas had gone into town with his grandfather and hadn’t come back until they were ready to leave for the lake. The whole thing put her on edge for some reason and she couldn’t figure out why, it shouldn’t have, but it still made her uneasy.

When they got back to the ranch the next day, while everyone went to sleep Riley had gotten comfortable in a hidden corner of the back porch and watched the stars as if they would help her get over the uneasy feeling in her gut. That’s when she had overheard a conversation between Lucas and his grandfather, while Lucas’s father was on speaker phone. The uneasy feeling settled in her stomach for good right afterwards. Lucas had been accepted to his first choice school, in Texas, and everyone was asking him if he wanted to go.

Riley walked away afterwards and went to the barn to be with the horses, the animals that Lucas loved so much, the reason why he wanted to be a veterinarian. She looked at them and wondered what Lucas would do, would he stay in New York or move back to Texas? What would she do? Could she give him up to let him fulfill his dream?

She thought about how she was giving up NYU for Maya, and wondered if she would let Lucas do the same, and the answer came to her as she sat there in the small office Pappy Joe kept in the back. She couldn’t. She loves him with all of her heart but she would never want to get between him and his dream it was too painful. Riley had applied to the same school Lucas had but the thought of moving so far away from home, so far away from the memories, it hurt too much. She didn’t know if she could do it. She had fallen asleep on the chair thinking of Lucas, and his dreams, of what he wanted.

It was an uneasy sleep, because she dreamt of the fights they would have because she made him stay over going to the school he had dreamed of going to. The fights that would break them apart, the reasons why she had been afraid for so long… the reasons she kept pushing their relationship back for so long. Could she give up the one person she loved so that he could find his own dream?

“Yes,” she said waking up and looking at the rising sun in the distance.

So no one would know that she hadn’t been in the house she sat down on the porch like that first night and watched the sky change colors in front of her. Spring as about new beginnings, but for her it was about breaking her own heart so that Lucas could find his dream.

They went back to New York with happier memories from Texas, but Riley was holding onto the hope that maybe she wouldn’t have to give Lucas, but in her heart she didn’t want him to give up his dream school. She went to bed that night with a heaviness in her heart knowing that she would have to look through the stack of letters that were on her desk from when she had been gone, and that she needed to let Lucas go so he wouldn’t give up his dream for her.


	22. Girl Meets Heartbreak

Lucas couldn’t figure out what was wrong with Riley, she had been avoiding him since they dropped him off at his house. They still had the weekend before school started since they wanted some time to reboot before school started but she hadn’t called him when she had gotten home, and when he went to her house her window was closed and the curtains were down. So he waited outside of her door, until Mr. Matthews let him in and he rushed towards Riley’s room without saying hello to her parents.

“Riley please open up,” he said as he knocked on the door. He automatically thought something horrible had happened before she got home, but he would have heard.

The door slowly opened revealing Riley in an oversized sweater and a pair of black tights, she looked fine but he could tell that she had been crying about something. It couldn’t have been the trip because they were all happy when they had gotten back so he thought that maybe something else had happened.

“Are you okay?” he asked as he walked into the room.

“Lucas I’m fine,” she said as if it were an automatic response. Something she was telling everyone and anyone who asked.

“Riley don’t lie to me please.”

She sighed before pulling away from the door and sitting at the bay window. The moment she sat down he knew that whatever was going to happen was important. There was a pile of open letters on the bench so when he got there he looked down to see that they were mostly letters from schools.

“Did you not get into the school you wanted to go to?” he asked hoping that whatever the problem was it wasn’t as terrible as what he thought it could be.

“I got into all of them, including NYU, I only applied because I wanted to know that maybe I could go if I wanted to, I also got into several out of state schools, but I won’t leave Maya behind, which is probably stupid when you think about it because I could go anywhere.”

“Is that why you’re sad?”

“Lucas,” she said looking at him. “I want you to follow your dream.”

“I am Riley, no matter where I go I can follow my dream and do everything I want to do.”

“No,” she sighed before looking directly at him. “I don’t want you to give up your first choice school for me, I want you to go to Texas A&M.”

He didn’t know what to say, he hadn’t told anyone but his parents, his grandfather and Zay about getting accepted, because even though he would be considered a legacy for going to the same school as his parents, he didn’t know if it was the right place to go to. He didn’t want to lose what he had.

“Riley,” he said taking her hand as he kneeled down in front of her. “How do you know I got in?”

“I overheard you and your grandfather talking about it, and I don’t want to be the reason you give it up.”

“But it’s okay for you to give up NYU for Maya?”

“There’s a difference, I promised Maya I wouldn’t leave her behind.”

“Riley I’m not leaving you behind, it’s stupid to think that I would even consider it.”

“Then why did you apply Lucas? Why did you take the risk if you didn’t want to go?” she said her voice rising as she talked to him. “You want to go and I know, you know it, but you’re going to give it all up for what your high school sweetheart? You don’t know where we’ll be in the next five years.”

He sighed and looked up at her, he could feel the sting in his eyes, “You once told me that you had hope for us Riley, you knew that somewhere deep down inside of you that there was something there to hope for, so what now you’re going to throw it away.”

“I’m not throwing it away Lucas, I’m setting you free to follow your dream, Texas A&M, is your dream, being a veterinarian is your dream, I’m just the girl you fell in love with, but I don’t want this to be the thing we fight over.”

“Well you made it the thing we fight over Riley, you made it that way. Did you ever think that maybe I don’t want to go to that school? Huh Riley did you ever think that maybe I would be happy at any school regardless of its title? As long as I’m with you,” he stopped feeling himself slowly falling apart from the inside as his heart broke from what she was trying to do.

“Lucas,” she said as the tears began to fall. “Don’t make me the reason why you give it all up.”

He let go of her hands as her words pierced through his heart, he stood up and walked towards the door. “I’m not giving up on us Riley, if you could give up your dream school just to stay with your friends why can’t I do the same?” he said walking back towards her.

“I don’t know,” she said as she looked into his eyes. “All I know is that if you do I’ll regret it.”

Looking at her eyes he knew that it was breaking her up just as much as it was breaking him up. Ever since he got the letter he didn’t know what to do, and then his father found it and started telling him to go because there was no school out there that was better for him. Everyone thought they knew what was best for him, even the one person he knew would be there for him no matter what.

He moved towards the door and looked at Riley before he spoke, “You don’t make the decisions for me Riley, my parents don’t either, I’m the one responsible for them. I know what I want but if you don’t want to be reasonable about it, then call me when you’re done make decisions for me that I don’t even want.”

Lucas walked out the door, said good night to the Matthews before leaving the apartment, his heart didn’t know what to do. He wasn’t sure where he would go, he just knew one thing, his world wouldn’t be the same without Riley in his life.

Riley didn’t know if it had been the right decision when she had done it, she didn’t know what she was thinking when the words came out of her mouth, she hadn’t really thought about it, she didn’t know if anything she did was right anymore. She wished she hadn’t heard the conversation between Lucas and his grandfather she would rather have been left unaware of it all because everything just hurt. The more she thought about it in her room the more it made sense to her.

There were days when her mother questioned her decision to go to Pennbrook instead of following her dreams of going to Yale. There were days when she saw her parents fighting and it would be brought up along with a million other things that had happened in their relationship. Riley was sure that if she let Lucas stay in New York the same problems would come up in their relationship, and she didn’t want them to argue like that because of this.

She stayed in her room, skipping dinner avoiding her parents, thankfully Auggie was still at her grandparent’s house because she wasn’t sure if she could avoid her little brother. Every once and a while her father checked in on her but she didn’t say anything to him. Eventually she gave up and stuffed her pillows into her bed so she could sneak up to the roof and think about what she was going to do about Lucas.

All the roof did was bring forward another set of memories that she didn’t want to remember, especially after coming back from Texas. That New Year’s party, watching Maya and Lucas, breaking Charlie’s heart, Farkle telling the world about her feelings. She cried thinking about everything they had gone through just to get to where they were. All the heartbreak and the tears, everything she hid from her friends as she tried to make herself seem as if it hadn’t hurt.

Farkle only noticed that she had been hiding her feelings, he hadn’t noticed everything else. Make-up had hidden the dark circles around her eyes, even though she wasn’t really allowed to wear it. Coffee had kept her awake in class as she watched Maya and Lucas circle around one another. Even after Farkle revealed it to everyone there was so much more that no one had known about. She had been on the cheerleading team in middle school so any weight she had lost at the time was due to sports, she had barely eaten she just went through the motions.

When the whole thing spilled over into High School it hurt even more because everything Lucas did with her had to be evened up with Maya. Every time Maya had pulled on his shirt and pulled Lucas close to her, Riley had thought that it would be the moment where they would leave her behind. Even now when everyone was happy she sometimes heard whispers of those years from their classmates, the ones who remembered. But no one had noticed that Riley was falling apart. Riley started noticing small things, like how her mother had been giving Maya so much more affection, her father made sure that Shawn would be there for Maya as well. There had been moment when Riley felt as if her own life hadn’t been hers.

Those days were over, but it was hard not to remember the sting from everything that had happened. In the end everything fixed itself but for Riley it still hurt regardless, it hurt because no one had really noticed how much pain she had been in. She had found out that if she never communicated anything in particular, no one really noticed anything. The bully problem had been the same, she had let it build up just like everything else.

That night at the ski lodge, when she talked to Evan, she was ready to give up Lucas for good if it meant that some of the pain would go away, but the next day it was like the universe had righted itself and everyone got to where they were supposed to be. Maya and Josh took another year to start a relationship, but Maya had gotten her wish to be with Josh. Riley’s parents’ showed that they loved her no matter what, even though she had doubted them for so long, and Lucas… sweet Lucas, had told her that he wanted to be with her.

“I don’t know what to do,” she said to no one in particular. She wanted to cry but she couldn’t anymore, she didn’t want to think anymore.

“You know that pillow thing can only work so many times,” her father said as he sat down next to her. “Are you okay?”

“I don’t know.”

“Maybe you need some time away to get your mind in the right place,” he said to her smiling.

“Dad I just got back from a trip where am I going to go?”

“Spend the weekend with your grandparents, with your brother, no friends, no Lucas, no parents.”

“Why?”

“Because I went through a lot of things growing up, including the kind of fight you and Lucas just had, so maybe what you need is some time to recharge, to put your thoughts in order. I’ll have you back by Monday and hopefully by then you’ll know what you want to do.”

“It’s worth a shot,” she said looking at her father.

“Go pack an overnight bag and I’ll drive you down there,” he said getting up and kissing her on the head.

That afternoon, Riley found herself on the road with her parents, they were going to drop her off and then spend the weekend in Atlantic City, to have some fun of their own. They left a note for anyone who would drop by, and left a spare set of keys with her Uncle Shawn. She didn’t tell her friends that she was going anywhere because this was supposed to be about her and what she had been thinking about since that night in Texas.

Riley found herself her father’s old room with Auggie there, and Artemis on his lap. She couldn’t help but smile at the two of them, she sat down and played with her little Artemis, and took her brother to the park and sat on the jungle gym watching Artemis and her brother running around. There was a small breeze and the air felt good against her face. By the time they had gotten back to her grandparent’s house they were both starved and tired, so they ate dinner with their grandparents in the same kitchen as their father had growing up. They went to bed in the same bed he had slept in when he was a kid, it was something different.

She was going to use the time to recharge, and maybe put her thoughts into place, because in the end she wasn’t sure if she was making any sound decisions for herself or Lucas. She let the thoughts go as she went to sleep that night thinking of nothing, snuggled up next to her little brother.


	23. Girl Meets a long walk to Philadelphia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Named after the episode from Boy Meets World, except it's Philly and not Pittsburgh

The moment Lucas got home he regretted leaving Riley the way he did, it was rare for them to fight about anything, but he knew it would happen eventually. There were times when he knew that they had communication problems when it came to certain parts of their relationship, but it was something that they had to work on together. Instead of going home he went to Zay’s house only to stand outside for an hour before walking towards the café. He didn’t want to be with anyone he wanted to think about how he was going to talk to Riley about all of this.

He was worried about her, he sometimes saw how she would close herself off when something was happening. He could kick himself because it took him a while to understand her tells, but he didn’t think this was that kind of moment. It still hurts that he had put her through so much with the whole triangle business because he knew that hurting Maya would hurt Riley.

“Hey there Ranger Rick,” Maya said pulling him out of his thoughts, he hadn’t realized that he had walked into the café and sat down. It was almost normal, the way he could move around the city because of being with Riley.

One of their favorite things is just walking around and talking about nothing in particular, but sometimes the important conversations they should have been having the last few weeks were overshadowed by the trip, and a million other things that seem pointless at the moment.

“Uh… Lucas are you okay?” Maya asked him when he hadn’t answered.

“Riley is giving up NYU for you, but she won’t let me give up Texas A&M for her,” he blurted out, Maya shouted something out to someone before sitting down in front of him with a questioning look on her face.

“I need all the details before I say anything,” Maya said forcing him to look at her. “Come on Huckleberry, tell me everything.”

He sighed before running his fingers through his hair, it had gotten a little longer, and he let it because he knew how Riley liked the feel of it against her fingers. “During our trip back home she didn’t talk a lot, she was really quiet and I was scared that something was happening and she doesn’t like to involve us until she’s so hurt that it really starts to show.”

“I noticed something was off when we were in Texas, but I didn’t know what so I kinda watched her,” Maya said to him. “Farkle told me to keep an eye on her, because he told me that she hides her feelings really well.”

“Well she overhead a conversation and automatically says that she doesn’t want me to give up on my dreams to follow her, she then told me that she doesn’t want it to be something that forces us to break up over.”

“But in the end, she made it an issue,” Maya sighed before sitting back and watching the people around them. That’s when Lucas noticed Josh standing behind the counter watching them, he knew that Josh could tell that something was wrong. He watched as Josh walked over to them and sat down next to Maya.

“Tell me what’s happening,” he said to Lucas and Maya smiled at him before walking towards the counter. Lucas couldn’t help but feel like he was being tagged teamed by the couple, so he told Josh what he had told Maya and Josh nodded until he was finished before he spoke again. “You two are idiots I swear,” he said, and Lucas looked at him wide eyed. “Listen I’m going to tell you something and it’s going to sound crazy, but it might help, Riley is a self-sacrificing idiot.”

“Josh,” Maya said looking at him as she put down a cup of cocoa in front of Lucas.

“No,” Josh said looking back at Maya. “You know I’m right, she would do a million things to make everyone else happy even if it meant that she would be miserable, because everyone comes first to what she wants,” Josh sighed before turning back to Lucas. “You have to make her see that what she wants matters, and she wants to stay with you.”

“But she’s giving up NYU for Maya,” Lucas said and Maya sighed.

“No she’s not, originally when it came up it was because there was the threat of her leaving, and all of that, but she doesn’t want to go to NYU anymore, she found this school, it’s about two hours from the city I think, but it has this writing program that she wants to be in,” Maya said, and Lucas knew this because the school also had a veterinary science program with farms close by for the students to work at. He had applied when she had shown it to him, it hadn’t been about being close to Riley when he had applied, it had been about working with farm animals and the school had a pretty impressive program.

“I applied there too,” he said before putting his face in his hands. “A&M was more about pleasing my father who wanted me to be a legacy, but that school was something different, my mom took me up there after I had seen the brochure and it was perfect.”

“Perfect how?” Josh asked.

“I saw the conditions of the veterinary school, and talked to several students and some of the professors, they said that a smaller environment was better for someone who wanted to go into the field.”

“Seriously you two need to talk about this before it goes beyond all of this…” she said waving her hands around. “Well, all of this stupidity. It’s like the first week of high school all over again, except Riley’s being the stubborn idiot this time.”

“She’s not an idiot Maya,” he said automatically. Defending Riley was an automatic response for him no matter the situation. “I’ll go over there and talk with her hopefully without the yelling part.”

“Uh…” Josh said looking down at his phone.

“What is it?” Maya asked looking over Josh’s shoulder.

“It looks like my brother drove Riley down to my parents’ house in Philadelphia, so you might not get the chance to talk to her right now.”

“I guess Riley needed some time to think after all,” Maya said

Lucas looked at Josh shocked, how long had he been wandering around thinking about all of this? When he looked at his watch he noticed that he had been in a stupor for over four hours. He felt so stupid for not going back to her house, for walking out.

“Don’t beat yourself up about it,” Josh said to him before patting him on the knee and walking back to the counter.

“You ever wonder about how big a romantic gesture is? Especially if you do it without thinking?” he said when it was just him and Maya.

“Whatever you’re planning Riley would love it as long as the two of you talk,” she said to him before walking off to where Josh was.

He knew what he had to do, and then they were going to have a long discussion about college, because there was only so much they could do if they kept things from the other person.

\---------

Riley woke up just after five in the morning, those early morning in Texas were messing with her sleep schedule. Artemis looked up from the floor as Riley got up, her little tail wagging so Riley slowly got dressed and took Artemis for an early morning walk down the block and back, because even though the little pup could jump and act all happy, her short little legs could only handle so much. They were back in the house within ten minutes, so Riley made herself some tea and sat down on one of the chairs in the backyard watching the sun rise like she had during her time in Texas.

She sat there mostly mad at herself over the fight with Lucas, she knew he had a point about her making decisions for him, the fight felt ridiculously stupid now. She had already picked out her school, she didn’t know where Maya was going, or even Farkle who has been her friend for as long as Maya has been. She was happy with her decision, it wasn’t some Ivy league school, it was small in comparison, but it meant that she would get the attention she needed from her teachers.

“Heavy thoughts for such an early morning,” someone said forcing her to look up and see Mr. Feeny in front of her. She had forgotten that he had lived next door.

“Well this week has been filled with them,” she said to him as she stood up and walked towards her father’s mentor.

“I’m good at listening,” Mr. Feeny said before opening the gate and gesturing towards the bench where they had sat when her parents and Shawn had been digging out the time capsule. It felt like a million years ago now that she stood there a senior in high school.

“Well,” she said sitting down. “It’s about my boyfriend and I fighting… are you okay talking about that?”

“I have lived through and seen many relationships in my life,” he said to her. “This includes your parents, so I think of myself as an expert on teenage relationships.”

Riley smiled at him, “Okay,” she said before telling him about the argument she had had with Lucas the day before. She told him about how her parents sometimes wondered if their lives would have been different if they had gone to different schools. She also told him about what Lucas had said about Riley giving things up for Maya but not for him, but how she hadn’t really given anything up because she wasn’t sure about where Maya was going to go to school. When she was done he smiled at her before speaking. She realized that this man had been there for her parents though the hardest parts of their relationship, so there was a possibility that he would help her, even if it meant letting go of Lucas.

"Honestly Ms. Matthews, from what you’ve told me, you didn’t let him come to his own decision on the matter, and while sometimes letting go of someone is harder than loving them, in the end you can't make decisions for them either," he said to her.

“I need to talk to him about this don’t I?” she asked looking over to the older man.

“Yes, but you have to really talk because in the end a person’s dreams change as they grow up, he may not really want to go to that school, and you know this because you no longer want to go to NYU which baffles me, but since your mother did the same thing and found herself happier, maybe this means that you have to let him come to his decision on his own.”

“I feel like such an idiot,” she said before burying her face in the palms of her hands.

“If you’re an idiot so am I,” Lucas’s voice said, and she thought she was hearing things because of her messed-up sleep schedule.

Mr. Feeny squeezed her shoulder, “I’ll leave you two to talk.”

At his words Riley’s head shot up to meet a familiar pair of green eyes. “Lucas what are you doing here?”

“Well I was going to go back to your apartment yesterday to tell you how much of an idiot I am, and you weren’t home, Josh drove me here, with Maya complaining the whole time because it was so late,” he said making Riley look for her Uncle and her best friend. “They’re asleep in the living room.”

“Lucas,” she said getting up and walking towards him. “If you’re an idiot so am I because it wasn’t my place to make the decision for you about what school you want to go to.”

“We can be idiots together,” he said before pulling out a small purple cat with a forget me not in its collar. “Riley, I don’t want to go to A&M, I don’t want to be a legacy and be miserable because everyone would want me to be like my father when I don’t want to be.”

“I don’t want to go to NYU and it’s not because Maya isn’t going,” she said taking his hand in hers. “I want to go to …”

“I know,” he said smiling. “I’m going there too, I checked it out before I applied months ago, and before you even applied to the school, I didn’t know you were going there until Maya told me and I realized that sometimes we keep things from one another because we think we know what’s best.”

“I guess we need to get better at talking,” she said before putting her arms around his shoulders.

“We talk fine, we just need to stop internalizing things that we think will hurt the other person.”

“Lucas, I love you,” she said before kissing him.

“I love you too Riley,” he said once they were apart.

“We’re such idiots,” she said smiling.

“The biggest idiots, but we’re idiots in love, so I guess it comes with the territory.”

“So, what now?”

“Now we get some breakfast and you show me around Philly,” he said smiling.

“That would be better with Josh, because honestly even with all of the visits since I was a kid I don’t know the city as well as he does, but I can make breakfast if you help.”

“That is something I can do, so lead the way,” he said gesturing towards the back door. “Your grandparents won’t mind that I’m here right?”

“Nah, my dad might but he’s in Atlantic city with my mom so,” she shrugged her shoulders. “Who knows.”

He gave her another kiss before they started working on breakfast, it was so normal she realized, the two of them cooking and being silly, but it was also good because it meant that this was just another way for them to communicate. Lucas’s words, their fight, Mr. Feeny telling her like it is, even the fact that Lucas had crossed state lines just to talk meant that their relationship would be stronger because of this. They just had to remember to learn to talk to one another before things became too bad.


	24. Girl Meets Expectations and Reality

It’s wasn’t a normal Saturday, it had been three weeks since the fight with Riley and Lucas was trying to figure something out, and it didn’t have anything to do with college. Mostly it had to do with prom. He didn’t know what the expectations for prom were, the only dances they’ve been to usually ended up in disaster because of one reason or another. With the exception of the year before, but still there was something nagging at the back of his mind.

The best way to deal with questions of any kind was to ask someone directly, so he invited Zay, Farkle and Josh to go out for lunch so they could bounce ideas off one another but also so he could get some answers. The girls were out shopping for dresses, so why couldn’t the guys hang out and talk, their tuxes were already picked out because they had the girls tell them how to coordinate the outfits and then they just yelled at them for five minutes before telling them that they’ll handle it and all the guys had to do was show up for the fitting.

“Why is prom such a big deal anyway?” Farkle asked looking at them while they sat down in a booth at the Nighthawk diner. “It’s just an oversized party.”

“It’s the last one you’ll have while you’re in high school,” Josh said automatically.

“Says the guy who already graduated,” Zay said while looking at the menu.

Lucas wasn’t sure if he was going to get anywhere if they were all bickering about tuxes, and the importance of a dance. He sighed and picked up a menu before slapping onto the table.

“What’s up your butt,” Zay said looking at him and the offending menu.

“What are the expectations of prom?” Lucas said looking at his friends. “In movies they say prom is about finally getting some, while in real life it’s just a regular dance. Are there any real expectations for it?”

“I am not having this talk with the guy dating my niece, my brother would kill me if I knew it would happen and I didn’t warn him,” Josh said trying to push Farkle out of the way because he was blocking the exit.

“I’m not going to have sex with Riley on prom night,” Lucas said automatically. He knew that when they were both ready it will happen but until then he wasn’t going to push it. “I just want to know how I should treat prom, should it be like a formal date, or a fun date…. I don’t know.”

“Knowing Riley she probably planned out the whole night,” Farkle said to him.

“Nah, she would want Lucas to tell her if something was alright, ever since that fight the two of them talk everything over before they actually do anything,” Josh said giving Lucas a knowing look.

“Why do I even bother having guy friends if all I get is sass,” Lucas said looking at them.

“Dude we’re not girls, we don’t have to talk about our feelings,” Zay answered him.

“Zay, if Cassie heard you talking like this what would she say?” Farkle asked him and Zay tensed up.

“Yeah especially since you two watch romcoms and dramas, hell you two watched The Notebook for fun the other night,” Lucas said to his childhood friend.

“I never said a word,” Zay answered automatically before looking around to see if Cassie had heard them talking.

The guys laughed at him for a moment before turning back to their menus, they ordered more food that should be consumed by anyone and they didn’t care. Lucas was still mulling over the expectations of prom while shoving a burger in his mouth.

“Lucas don’t worry about it,” Josh said looking at them. “Listen prom is a celebration, you’ve survived school for this long, look at everything you’ve been through and now you’re out on the other side kind of celebration.”

“So there’s no real expectations,” Zay said looking at Josh.

“Nah, the girls expect limos, and flowers,” Josh said smiling at them. “Giant declarations of love, for the whole world to know that you love them more than anything.”

The three of them looked at Josh like he was messing with them, but in the end it did give Lucas an idea. After they finished eating they went to the shop to try on the tuxes the girls had picked out for them, along with shoes and even socks.

“They went a little overboard here don’t you think?” Farkle said looking at all of the things that had been put aside for them.

“Don’t worry too much, just remember that they care and that they want us to look good, because if we don’t they would probably kick our asses,” Zay said patting Farkle on the back.

By the time they went their separate ways Lucas went off towards a nearby shop to find the perfect thing to give to Riley on prom night, it had to be something simple, but he knew in the end that she would love it because she loved him.

\------

Riley was exhausted, _shopping should be fun not exhausting right?_ She thought to herself but after four hours of running around the city, she didn’t know if he legs would ever recover. Her dress and shoes had been picked out for months now, but she somehow ended up having to pick out Lucas’s tux, because boys were useless when trying to coordinate outfits. Then there was shopping for Maya, Smackle, and Cassie’s dressed, which turned into them going to some obscure places because they wanted something special, which turned into a miniature fashion show, that even Smackle started having fun.

So of course by the time Riley had gotten home her legs were screaming and she couldn’t really move off of her bed. There was a small knock on her window, but she didn’t move she just waved her hand at whoever it was so that they knew she wasn’t dead.

The window opened letting in the spring breeze which felt nice on her skin. “You know I could be some axe murderer,” Lucas said as he sat down next to her and gave her a quick kiss. “I like my tux by the way.”

“I’m glad,” she said looking up at his eyes. “It fit right? I mean you did try it on and not just look at it and buy it.”

“Yes it fits,” he said smiling. “Anyway, I wanted to talk to you about something.”

“As long as it doesn’t involve me moving go ahead.”

He laughed at her for a moment before stopping to speak. “Well I was talking with the guys earlier about expectations.”

“Please don’t tell me that this conversation is about sex on prom night,” she before grabbing her pillow and hitting him on the face with it.

“Yes and no, I mean it came up but no we’re not having sex on prom night,” he said as he grabbed the pillow and throwing it across the room so she would stop hitting him with it. “It was more about what prom night really means.”

“Lucas it’s just a party, at this point I’ll be happy if we danced for an hour and then went to the movies,” she said smiling at him. “I like our simple dates more than big parties.”

“Good, how about we dance for an hour and then have dinner and then go to the movies,” he said adding to what she had suggested which only made her happier.

“That’s perfect.”

“Anyway, I got you something… to um… go with your dress,” he stuttered out. “It’s not much but I want you to have it,” he pulled out a small rose gold necklace with a little metallic bead on it.

Riley sat up for the first time taking the necklace from him before looking at it and noticing the small heart on the bead. It wasn’t huge, but it looked just like, “Pluto,” she said out loud.

“I went looking for something special, prom is a huge deal but I want this to be a promise that no matter what I’ll be there for you,” he said to her and she could feel her eyes water.

“You didn’t have to buy me something,” she said but she held the necklace close to her heart.

“I know but I also want you to know that after everything we’ve been through that you’re my Pluto, you’re my hope Riley Matthews.”

Riley could feel her heart beating in her chest, pounding in her ears, her blood pumping through her veins, this was everything and nothing at the same time. This was what perfect felt like, they fought, they laughed, they cried, but in the end their expectations and the reality of their relationship always made her smile and she couldn’t believe that something so perfect could happen to her.

“I love you,” she said before pulling him down for a kiss, to feel the softness of his lips against hers, the warmth of his hand on her face, his fingers in her hair. For as long as she’s known him, he continues to surprise her, even after what had happened. It was at that moment that Riley knew that she could really have it all, it just took some work.

“I love you too,” he said once she pulled away.

The door to her room slammed open and her father stood on the other side, before anything could happen Lucas was out the window and down the fire escape while Riley sat there in shock from just the door opening.

“We weren’t doing anything,” she said to her father who just ran out the window and after Lucas. Riley rolled her eyes and closed the window, she would let him have this moment because in the fall she would be at school and her father couldn’t really chase Lucas away when they were two hours away.


	25. Girl Meets Senior Prom

Farkle knew it was an important dance, but for him seeing his girlfriend standing there in front of him while her parents took photos took his breath away. Statistically their relationship shouldn’t have lasted as long as it has, they had been together since middle school, but after hearing the stories from his parents about Mr. and Mrs. Matthews, Farkle had something to hope for. Isadora was wearing a dark blue sequined gown, he knew it took her a long time to find it because Riley had told him. He also knew that one day he was going to marry Isadora Smackle and that they would change the world together. What he hadn’t known was when a future with Isadora had become so permanent that he couldn’t see a life without her there.

Love was a strange thing, he always thought he would have been left behind if Riley and Maya had fallen in love first but he hadn’t, and they’ve all grown into stronger people since. It really was interesting to watch just how different they all were, both in and outside of their relationships.

“Mom,” Isadora complained which only made him smile even more. Her parents were so normal compared to the genius that was his girlfriend, but that’s what made her and her family so special. They encouraged Isadora to be who she was and if it weren’t for that who knows if she would have ever asked him out.

“One more picture please,” her mother said smiling and Farkle put his arms around Isadora and smiled at her. She blushed and smiled at her mother as she took another picture. “Thank you Farkle, now off you two go we don’t want you to be late.”

They had been ushered out the door and towards the waiting car, his father had insisted on them taking the rolls to prom and Farkle didn’t deny his father’s request. It had seemed so minor but the car was fancier than anyone he knew would arrive in.

“Is this too much,” he said gesturing towards the car.

“No because it’s you my beloved,” Isadora said smiling at him.

That was another thing he had noticed over the years, she had become more comfortable not just around him but their friends. She spoke differently around them, but she also didn’t lose her blunt nature. Watching her grow up to be this wonderful person was the best gift he could have ever received from anyone.

When they arrived at the prom location, he took her hand and led her towards the doors of the hall that had been rented out by the school. The room was covered in white and sparkling lights that made the room almost seem like an array of colors had washed the room in reds, yellows and blues. Farkle led them to the photo booth which only made Isadora groan, but they took their photo and made their way to their table. Their friends were dancing and having fun so when he set their things down he took Isadora by the hand and pulled her towards the dance floor. Waving a hello to his friends he danced with his girlfriend in his arms and a smile on his face.

“What are you thinking about beloved?” she asked him when he had stopped moving.

“It’s just that, well this is it, high school is almost over and I just realized that everything I have I really never thought was possible for me.”

“We grow, we learn, we love, and we continue to rely on those around us, it makes it seem as if everything is possible as long as you have the right people by your side,” she said with a smile.

“As long as we’re together,” he said before kissing her.

\---------

Their one-year anniversary was still weeks away, but Zay couldn’t have chosen a better night to show the whole world how much he had come to care about the girl in front of him.

They had started the night early, having dinner with their parents at a nearby restaurant because they loved their families as much as they did one another. They had taken photos together, two families becoming one, his mother joked that maybe in a few years it would be possible. Zay didn’t want it to be a joke, but he also just wanted to live in the moment so instead of focusing on their relationship, he focused on their families. His mother and father smiling more after Grandma Gandy’s death, Cassie’s parents asking them about their futures, Cassie’s brothers laughing at some random joke.

This is what he wants when he gets married, somewhere far down the line, he wants happy and healthy kids, and someone he truly loves by his side. Of course he was looking at Cassie while he was thinking it because she was perfect to him in every way. She thought it was weird that he thought that they were perfect, because they weren’t, he knew that but somehow even the flaws made their relationship better.

“Zay,” she said once they were in the cab on the way to prom. “You have this weird look on your face.”

“That my lovely girlfriend, is the look of happiness,” he said taking her hand.

“Why are you so happy then?”

“Because even though you don’t think our relationship is perfect, I do, mainly because I would think everything is perfect as long as I’m standing next to you.”

“Even if I have a bad hair day, and a zit, and dirt caked all over my face.”

“Still perfect, because it only matters that we’re together.”

“But what’s going to happen when you meet some girl in college and you like her more.”

“If I do that you have permission to kick my ass.”

“I look forward to it,” she said smiling, which only made him think that she would kick his ass regardless. “By the way you haven’t said anything about my dress all night.”

“That’s because I didn’t want our parents killing me for calling you sexy and hot,” he answered her feeling his face heat up. “You look fabulous Cas, and you’re going to be the most beautiful girl at prom.”

“Only to you Zay, but I’ll take the compliment, and thank you for letting me pick your suit, it looks great.”

“Yeah well you have good taste,” he smiled. “I mean you did pick me didn’t you?”

“Yes but right now I don’t know about that,” she smiled back.

It was their thing, the jokes the banter and sometimes just being themselves, this just made the night even better because they weren’t changing who they were for anyone.

They entered the dance and automatically went to the dance floor and started dancing, bumping into everyone and not caring because they were all having fun. Lucas and Riley danced with them, and then Josh and Maya joined it, Farkle and Smackle came in last, but it was all about them and no one else. Friends together.

\--------

Josh went to his high school prom already, but he hadn’t really had a lot of fun, too much was happening at the time especially with NYU looming over him. So this night was actually going to be special for him because he was going to share it with Maya, and it was a do over of prom for him. This time without the stress of going to a school where he didn’t know a single person, moving to New York. This time it was only him and Maya, and it was going to be great.

That’s how he had felt but it was different once he was standing in front of her mother and Shawn. While her mother had been sweet, Shawn was glaring before he took Josh by the arm and dragged him into the kitchen.

“Don’t do anything to her that would upset her mother,” he said staring Josh down.

“I wasn’t planning on it,” Josh said automatically but Shawn didn’t step back.

“I know you Matthews boys, your brother and Topanga got a room at a hotel the night of prom, what makes me think that you’re not the same.”

“Because I honestly can’t afford it, and I don’t want to offend you or Katy,” Josh said and honestly it was the truth, the money he earned from working went to food, and transportation. His dates with Maya usually were at her house, or at one of the diners they went to because they were both saving money. If it was free they would go, that’s how he had spent a lot of weekends at the Met with Maya as she looked at the art and talked to him about brush strokes, and color patterns. Normally doing something like that would have been boring but her excitement had always made it worth the trip.

“I don’t trust you, but I can’t stop her from going,” Shawn glared at him making Josh laugh.

“You hang out way too much with my brother.”

“Don’t I know it,” Shawn rolled his eyes before they walked back to the living room.

“Enough with the shovel talk boys,” Maya’s mother said before pushing Josh and Maya out the door. “Have fun.”

“We will mom,” Maya called back before the door slammed. “So what did Shawn want?”

“To kept your virtue safe from the wrath that is the Matthews genes.”

“So he gave you the sex talk?”

“Yeah and it was awkward because I just heard something about my brother that I never really wanted to know.”

“There’s a story there, but I don’t want to be late so tell me on the way there,” she said before they walked out to the car.

As he drove them to prom he told Maya the story about his brother and sister in law and their prom night. Maya laughed the whole way to the prom.

Once inside Josh couldn’t help but take her hand and pull her towards the dance floor, that was where he held onto her as they swayed around the room not caring if the music was going fast or slow.

\-------------

When Lucas picked up Riley his heart stopped, her dress was pink and sparkly and perfect in a way that could only be Riley Matthews. She had the necklace on, and a smile on her face, her hair in soft curls that he wanted to run his fingers through. Unfortunately, her father got in the way just before they started taking pictures. Each time Mr. Matthews got close he glared at Lucas as if Lucas was going to do something truly horrible. When Mrs. Matthews pulled him aside as Mr. Matthews talked to Riley she was trying to hide a smile.

“Can I ask why he’s acting this way?” he asked her as she helped straighten his tie for a picture.

“He’s remembering our prom and it’s making him uneasy,” she said before looking him in the eye. “What are your intentions with my daughter?”

“Take her to the dance, maybe go out to dinner, and maybe seeing a movie afterwards,” he said feeling nervous all of a sudden.

“You’re a good boy Lucas Friar, but remember that our daughter is precious to us so don’t hurt her in anyway.”

“I’ll be on my best behavior Mrs. Matthews.”

“I know you will be,” she said and he knew that she could destroy his entire life if he so much as pulled a hair off of Riley’s head.

It wasn’t until they were on their way that the shock wore off, Riley held onto his hand comforting him as if she knew what had just happened. Most likely she did because they were both used to these talks when it came to her parents.

“You know, your mother is scary, your father can chase me and I’ll be fine but your mom can say one thing and make me fear for my life.”

“Yeah… I know, remember that girl who didn’t like me in freshman year,” when he nodded she gave him a shy smile. “My mother got so angry that she had the whole family checked out and they got into this whole legal battle all because their daughter didn’t like me.”

“Scary,” was all he said.

When they got to the prom Riley pulled him through the room, they stopped for pictures, and sat down for a moment before they started dancing, Lucas finally calmed down after ten minutes on the dance floor. They had stayed longer than the hour they had agreed on, mainly because they were having fun with their friends. When they finally started walking towards the door, their friends followed and they all ended up at a diner that was still serving breakfast. The group of eight ate their way through a mountain of pancakes before moving on to the movie theater. They all sat in different places to have a moment alone with their significant other, so Riley and Lucas sat in their usual seat in the back corner as they watched the movie playing on the screen. They both fell asleep halfway through the movie, Riley’s head on his shoulder and his head on top of hers.

It really was a prom night to remember.


	26. Girl Meets Final Lesson

The last day of school was here, and Riley couldn’t believe that it was all over, she sat in her last class which was her father’s history class, and just watched as her classmates filed into the room. She remembered the first day of High School, those moments that she walked into the school with her friends.

 **“** This is it! High school!” Maya said as they walked through the doors.

“We're gonna own this place!” Riley said wearing her favorite Pluto shirt with its giant heart. She had cut her hair that summer because High School was going to be a new beginning. This was a different time, almost a different world, where their relationships were still undefined. How everything had changed since then.

She remembered the whole Jexica thing, and how she had been a different person, and how she should have known at that time that Lucas’s feel’s for her were a lot stronger than she had imagined. She should have known the moment he had sent that email, or even at that moment in the bay window when he was sitting on the floor next to her.

“We know who you are Riley. You don't have to write down some fake profile to not show who you are. I'd recognize you anywhere.”

He knew her better than most people, and she hadn’t realized that he liked her as much as she liked him. Even when he had called them losers, she knew it had just been a bad week for the both of them, but it was nice that everyone else was having a good week. So much had happened in those first few weeks, Maya had to find herself but her art had been screaming the truth at her. In the end what she found and what she had gained in those weeks were something that changed her life forever, Maya got a family that week. Most of all she learned that there was more to Maya than the rebel everyone had painted her to be,

“I'm strong...because there's something inside me that stops me now. It knows how important you've been in my life, and it'll never let me do any real damage as long as I live.”

Soon after everything was put back in place, and their friendships became stronger, Lucas had his moment and Riley had never been happier. Now she knows that those extraordinary relationships, the one she had talked about with Maya, they weren’t limited to one person, but to all the people she let into her heart. Maya would always be her best friend, she was the Shawn to her Cory. Lucas is her first and only love, her Topanga as strange as it sounds, but it was fitting in a way.

Farkle, Smackle, Zay and Cassie were all family to her, and if Maya had her way in a few years, she would be Riley’s aunt. It was still weird to think of it all in that perspective, but Maya and Josh truly loved each other and she wanted the best for the both of them.

She remembered, getting detention on a Saturday, the seniors ranking the girls and how it lit a fire within Riley to change their school. She remembered speaking to Charlie for the first time and how he had told her that he had found love instead of pining for someone who was in love with another person. Helping Farkle and Smackle with their anniversary, and being overjoyed at how much the two geniuses truly loved one another. The Friday night party that forced her to fight with her parents, the bullies she confronted, becoming a cheerleader, finding her talent, helping Maya and Josh admit their feelings. Introducing Zay to Cassie. Dances, dates, sleepovers, trips, injuries, and just being together.

So much has happened and she knows that even though High School is over that so much more is going to happen to all of them. College, jobs, traveling, families, anything can happen, the sky’s the limit from this point forward. But Riley wanted to savor their final moments in her father’s class, she wanted to remember everything about being at that school.

“Okay class,” her father said walking into the room. “I know this is the last day of the year, but I’m still going to teach you something.”

Everyone groaned but Riley looked at her friends smiling, they knew that this was the end.

“During freshman year I said to follow these words,” he said pointing at the sign above the board. Dream. Try. Do Good. “I want you all to believe in yourselves and continue to follow these words as you enter the next phase of your lives.”

“We will,” Zay said smiling and the rest of them nodded.

“I have another lesson for you all,” Her father continued as he sat on the edge of his desk and looked out at them all. “My mentor, my former teacher from middle school through college once said that, it’s not enough to leave school and just desire to succeed in this cold, cruel world. Because then you’ve simply become a part of it. You must also have the desire to change it. And to change it, you’ll need your fine mind, and his good heart.”

Riley knew he was talking about Mr. Feeny, because in the end her father would always regard the man as a truly great teacher.

“I want you all to go out there and change the world in some way,” her father said looking out at a classroom full of students, most of which he had known since they were in middle school. “Because you all are now a part of the world that will usher in the changes we need for the next generation. And while some of you may become educators, writers, doctors, or even a sports star, you are the ones with the power to make sure that the world becomes something that you can be proud of. Class dismissed, go clean out your lockers.”

Everyone filed out of the room leaving seven students behind, Riley smiled at her father, “Is that really everything you want to say?”

Her father smiled at them, “Well Mr. Feeny did say some other things but for the lot of you I think this lesson is more important, and that is the lesson of friends, he had said that Friendship, is a real gift. It’s given with no expectations and no gratitude is needed, not between real friends. And that, You don't have to be blood to be family.”

He walked towards the group taking Riley’s hand, “I know that you eight, because I’m including Josh in this, you are all as close to family as I’ve seen. Don’t lose that, and keep each other safe.”

They all nodded at him before Riley stood and hugged her father, “I love you daddy,” she said as her friends came around them and they were in each other’s arms. One giant group hug, and no one would mention the tears, as they cried realizing that High School was truly over.

Everyone began to file out of the room but her father held both her and Lucas back, the two gave each other a confused look before standing close to one another.

“I know that I fight you both on your relationship. Mr. Feeny taught me that when you find love, you hold on to it. And cherish it. Because there is nothing finer and it may not come again,” her father sighed for a moment. “I want you to cherish what you have, I know I should have said it to the rest of the group as well, but you two danced around your feelings for a long time before you got together. I’ve watched you both throughout the last two and a half years of your relationship, and honestly I know that you have something truly special and I want you to hold that close to your hearts.”

“Does this mean that you’re going to be nicer to Lucas?” Riley asked her father in hopes that regardless of whether or not he stopped chasing Lucas he would approve of their relationship without complaint.

“I’m going to try because it’s up to him now to keep you safe, since I can’t follow you to college, as much fun as that would be, I still have to teach Auggie for the next few years,” he said pulling her into a hug.

“I’ll do my best to keep her safe sir,” Lucas answered her father.

“I know you will,” her father said before pushing them out the door. “Go clean out your lockers.”

“Thank you for being there for us,” she said to her father as she walked away.

“Thank you for helping me get pass everything that you’ve done for me in the last couple of years,” Lucas said taking his teacher’s hand. “Thank you for believing in me, even when you didn’t like the fact that I was dating your daughter.”

“It wasn’t that I didn’t like that you and Riley were dating, I would have reacted the same way if she had ended up with Charlie, in all honesty it was just the fact that she had grown up so fast and I was afraid of letting go,” he said and Riley felt the tears in her eyes before she threw her arms around her father.

“I’ll always be your little girl daddy, even when I have kids of my own.”

“You’re not allowed to have kids until your thirty,” he answered automatically making the both of them laugh.

“Twenty-seven,” she answered but her father shook his head. “Okay but if Auggie has a kid before me it’ll be your fault remember that.”

“Nope neither one of you are allowed to make me feel old by giving me a grandchild.”

“Dad,” she said but the smile was there. He would fight over everything that they did mainly because it’s what they did. She knew he would be happy as long as she was happy.

The group split up after school, Zay took Cassie home because they were on babysitting duty, Farkle and Smackle decided to go on an impromptu date because they never tried, and Maya went off to work at her Topanga’s.

“What should we do?” she asked Lucas as they stood outside of the school.

“Bay window,” he said smiling at her. “It seems fitting that after a big moment we would end up there.”

That’s how they ended up watching a movie on the bay window, with popcorn between the two of them and chocolate inside of it melting into the popcorn and a bag of red gummy bears.

“So what’s next?” she asked looking out at her room. “I mean college, is next and all but what else is there?”

“We’ll live through it all one step at a time Riley, I mean there’s so much more for us to do but college is just another step to our futures.”

“Um Lucas… I want to go to Texas again, but maybe this time without everyone else,” she looked at him smiling. “I think you need to show me the Texas you grew up in without our friends or even bad memories.”

“That’s something I would love to show you,” he took her hand and gave it a small kiss. “There’s a huge rodeo happening in July which would be a good time and you can help Pappy Joe in the mornings, I know he really enjoyed your help when he was feeding the animals.”

“If we spent a month there this summer, can you teach me about farm life?”

“Why the sudden interest?”

“Well I think it’s nice… and well you’ve lived in my world for the last few years so I think it would be nice to get to know yours.”

“Riley,” he started before clearing his throat. “I would love that, but you don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

She took his hand and smiled, “Lucas I want to because I want to get to know both sides of you, so it’s time I learned more about the person you were before I met you.”

“I don’t like him a lot, but I would love to show you the Texas I loved and why I found it so hard to let go during middle school.”

“Okay,” she smiled at him and pulled him close. The school year was over, high school was over but she knew that new adventures awaited them. One door closes, and a million more open, all she had to do was take the risk and step through each of them, little by little.


	27. Girl Meets Graduation

They stood on the rooftop of Riley’s apartment building, the same place they had celebrated their last graduation, the same place they celebrated so many other occasions, where so many heartbreaks happened, where their lives changed and changed each time they went up there. They had just come from the graduation ceremony, where they all walked on stage and received their high school diplomas, where Riley had watched her friends receive a number of awards. Riley had been elected as the student speaker, the valedictorian over Farkle and Smackle, she couldn’t believe it, and at first none of them had believed it either.

The reason she had gotten it over the two geniuses was because she not only was one of the top students in the school, but because she did so much while she was a student. In the end she didn’t speak, she accepted the honor, but instead she asked if they could let her bring in someone else to talk to the graduating class. The surprised look on the faces of her principle, her father, her friends and her teachers.

She thought back to the ceremony, as the older man stood up there waiting to speak on Riley’s behalf she couldn’t have thought of someone better to speak to the graduating class. Mr. Feeny had taught so many students, he even taught her a few things over the years.

“I have been asked to speak in place of your valedictorian, Riley Matthews, she believes that I would be the best person to speak to you. I know that many of you are wondering who I am, but you have probably learned lessons from me without knowing it. I taught one of your teachers, I’ve worked with the superintendent of school, and they have all taught something to you in one form or another. My name is George Feeny, I was once a middle school teacher, a high school principle, and a college professor. Mr. Cory Matthews, was once my student and I know he has taken my lessons and taught them to you. My lesson to you all right at this moment, is that the next step of your life is going to be difficult, but if you have come this far you as this moment right now, and yes life is difficult, but there are so many rewards that come from your hard work. For now, cherish these moments, cherish your friends, your family, and your education because it will take you to places you would never have thought possible.”

The students didn’t know what to say but they all listened to the man standing in a room full of strangers, they understood what he was saying and in the hour after the ceremony when they were all saying good bye to their teachers they understood even more. The moments were short but precious. That’s why while they celebrated on the roof full of everyone they knew and loved, they were a family, stitched together by fate.

“Hey Riles, what are you thinking about?” Maya asked after she had noticed that Riley hadn’t really moved to talk to anyone.

“Just the next phase of our lives,” she answered. They had all decided not to say where they were going to school until they all had to leave. They knew where Riley and Lucas were going because of their fight but the rest of them decided to stay quiet.

“Yeah well the next part of this is college,” Maya said smiling at her.

Riley smiled at Maya, “I’m going to spend the summer working,” she said admitting her plans for the first time. “I’m going to work on the ranch with Lucas and Pappy Joe, maybe look at Texas in a different way.”

“That sounds amazing,” Maya said but her eyes said something else. “Why did you wait until now to tell me?”

“We only talked about it after prom, and I think that I need to make these memories with just Lucas… I want to see what his life was like before we met.”

Maya smiled, “Yeah well…”

“I’m not abandoning you Maya,” Riley said automatically knowing that Maya feared losing people the most.

“I know I guess it’s going to be weird.”

“Not really,” Josh said as he walked towards them. “I’m going to be here working with you all summer before you leave to go to school.”

“You heard about the trip?” Riley asked her uncle who nodded.

“Cory’s been freaking out, but don’t worry too much he’ll freak out if you so much as walk down the block.”

“Ain’t that the truth,” Zay said joining them. “He’ll freak out over anything, he’ll probably have your phone tracked or something.”

“He’s not that bad,” Riley said wishing she was telling the truth but knowing that her father was that extreme.

“So how are we going to deal with our room situation in college if you’re gone,” Cassie said making Riley’s head spin for a moment.

“What?” Riley said looking at her friends.

“Sorry, I know I messed up, it just came out,” Cassie said as she tried not to look at the group.

Farkle, Smackle and Lucas joined them when Riley yelled out, “We were going to tell you over the summer as a surprise,” Farkle said while Lucas looked at them confused.

“We’re going to go with you to that small school, because we have a lot more to learn in regards to our friendships,” Smackle said.

“You’re all giving up your schools to follow me and Riley to ours?” Lucas asked looking at their friends.

“Yes,” they all answered.

“I’ll be there in a year for my master’s program, but I’ll visit in the meantime,” Josh added.

Lucas and Riley both stood there shocked at what they were all doing, they were following them to their new school. It felt like when they had graduated middle school and they moved her father to the high school, except now they were following her instead.

“We’re your family,” Zay said to the both of them. “And we stick together.”

“We can go to those fancy schools when we go for our Ph.D.’s,” Farkle said.

“I still have a lot to learn about friendship and human relationships,” Smackle added.

“I’m still new to this group, but you all have given me so much more than I could have asked for,” Cassie smiled.

Lucas took Riley’s hand and smiled at her, “It looks like our family is following us to college.”

“Well except for your father, as much as he would love to torture you, he’s not allowed to leave,” her mother said as she walked over. Riley couldn’t help but laugh. “He still has a lot to teach your brother about, and I want to make sure that he is still there to teach him.”

Riley knew that she had the best family in the world, her father as much as he cared needed to stay and teach the younger generation. Her mother had to save the world one lawsuit at a time, her little brother had a lot of growing up to do, along with Ava. She would visit as much as possible, but she needed to grow as well away from her parents. The best thing she could do for her parents is take all the lessons she has learned from them over the years and change the world herself.

This was the next step of her life, she was going to savor the moments she had, and the ones yet to come. This was her past and her future right there at that moment. They were her family, put together over time.

“To the next step of our lives,” Riley said smiling at everyone.

“To the next step,” they all said before coming together for a group hug.


	28. Season 5 Extra: Story Cover




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